Living Hell Redemption
by AnimeFreak134
Summary: Rukia was being abused by her once loving and caring boyfriend. It was a Living Hell, until one day she met her saviour. Will she recover? Or will she crumble? Rated M for mature content - mostly language and some scenes later on. HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Bleach or...Ichigo... *sobs* I love Ichigo! But sadly he's not mine he is Tite Kubo's **

**Well this is my first Bleach fanfic and I hope it's good! Sorry it's so short but this is kind of just a prologue to let you know what's happening! Well hope you like it!**

**Edit from Distant Future: **I just want to let every reader know that after this chapter may lie some triggering events. My story involves te mention and slight recall of rape and abuse. I have never experienced either so any and all things stated are purely the imagination of an author. I would liek to greatly apologize if my story offends anyone.

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Why do you hurt me? Abusing me seems right? You think all of the tears I shed were _**FOR**_ you? I shed my tears _**BECAUSE**_ of you! The screams and yells of all the pain and agony you put me through. Cuts, bruises, fractures, concussions; all the things you did to me. You yell at me, calling me "Bitch" or "Whore" but all I could do was scream as you abused and raped me over and over. I used to love you, but then you turned. You went from loving and caring to hateful and abusive. Kissing was gentle and love filled. Now you kiss with force and pain as my lips split open and _**BLOOD**_ flows out. You ravage my mouth with your putrid tongue as you cut my pale skin with your hideous nails. I scream with my hoarse voice for you to stop but you just won't!_ 'Help! Please someone help me! Help me escape this **LIVING HELL**!' _I scream in my mind. One day every month you let me go out. For some reason I never tried to run away even though you were never with me.

That is, until I met _**HIM**_. He was my savior, my angel. I Rukia Kuchiki was now freed from the shackles of my _**LIVING HELL**_. "Miss, are you okay?" he had asked me with a concerned voice. He was the first person to speak to me, other than that bastard Rengi, in over a year. "No!" I said as tears poured out of my violet eyes. "Please! Please, help me!" I said as I ran into his unsuspecting arms. "W-What's wrong?" he said as he picked me up bridal style and started walking. Still sobbing, I said, "M-My boyfriend h-has b-b-been abusing m-me! He hurt me! Please! Please don't let him get me!" I was sobbing into his shirt now drenched with my tears. "Uh, could I possibly know your name?" he questioned as he turned a corner onto a fairly busy street. "R-Rukia, Rukia Kuchiki." I replied feebly. "Well I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. It's pleasure meeting you Kuchiki-san. So…uh… may I ask who did all of this to you?" he said tentatively as he gestured towards my cuts, scabs, scratch marks, scars, and her very malnourished and brittle appearance. "Y-Yes… His name is," I started to cry a little more, "Rengi Abari." I sobbed even harder. But Ichigo just hugged me closer. "If it's okay with you, I'll bring you back to my apartment until you recover. I mean, I have a part time job at my dad's clinic and I have medical equipment at home." He said awkwardly. "Yes, thank you….Ichigo…" she said as she yawned and slowly fell asleep.

As they approached Ichigo's apartment, Rukia was already fast asleep. Ichigo walked up the stairs to his third floor apartment. He walked in, right past his small kitchen to the right and his fairly nice sized living room to the left, and went down a small "hallway." It was fairly short and had only four rooms. The two on the left were a laundry/closet and a full sized bathroom. On the right, were the guest bedroom and Ichigo's room. He opened the door to the guest room and set Rukia on top of the bed and covered her in a blanket. Although, before he was able to do that he had to pry her off of him. Even though she was sleeping she didn't seem to want to get out of his comforting arms. Ichigo looked down at her sleeping form with sympathetic eyes. He walked into his room and plopped down on the bed. _'I'm still not completely sure what that bastard Rengi did to you, but I'll protect you no matter what. Even though I just met you, I already feel like if u were hurt it would hurt me too…' _Ichigo thought as he drifted off to sleep safe and sound with Rukia in the room right next door.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Told you it was really short! Hoped you liked it anyway! Please no flames! Well anyway please check out my other story Shattering Hearts if you haven't already! ~~AnimeFreak134**


	2. Chapter 2: The First Day Away From Hell

**DISCLAIMER: I do not on the very strong, hot, and sexy strawberry we all know and love! =( Yes, I mean Ichigo. I also don't own the kick ass midget, Rukia, either! D: Yes I know depressing! Lol Hope you like the chapter! **

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**_~RUKIA~_**

"_N-NOOO! STOP! STOP IT! PLEASE! DON'T HURT ME ANYMORE!" He kept ignoring my pleas and kept on hurting me. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" I screamed. "W-what are you doing? NO! PLEASE DON'T!" I yelled even louder as he pulled out a large knife. "Shut-up you bitch." He said. He came closer with the horrid knife that looked sharp enough to cut through bone like butter. "KIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Rukia bolted straight up in the bed she was in. _'What a horrid nightmare.' _I thought to myself as I cried a bit. _'WH-Where am I?'_ She got out of the cozy bed and looked out the small window. She was definitely not where she was supposed to be. "Oh my god! H-He's going to kill me when he realizes I've left!" she whispered to herself. Just then the memories rushed into her head. Rukia immediately felt relief as she realized she was at Ichigo's apartment. She looked at the digital clock on the small bedside table. It read 12:36pm. Rukia was a bit shocked at how long she had slept. She had left the hell hole she had been in for over a year at around 4:30pm and had run into her savior, Ichigo, almost two hours later. _'I was asleep for 18 hours? Well, I haven't exactly had a full night's sleep in over a year.' _Rukia thought to herself as tears streamed down her face. She huddled up into a ball on the bed and just let the tears flow. She needed to push this behind her so she could start her life over.

**_~ICHIGO~_**

"Damnit, I hope she's okay. She's been asleep forever." Ichigo mumbled to himself while watching some TV. He shut off the TV as he got up to check on the poor, abused midget known as Rukia. Knocking on the door lightly, Ichigo said, "Hey…uh…Rukia, are you up yet?" He opened the door slowly to see Rukia huddled into a ball on the bed crying. "A-Are you okay?" he asked while walking over to her. "Yeah, I'm fine." She replied in an unemotional voice. "You don't sound fine. Come on, why don't I get you something to eat you look starved." Ichigo offered. Rukia looked up at him with thankful yet nervous violet orbs. "Yes please." She whispered quietly. "After that I can get you some bandages if you want them. You have a pretty big cut on your arm." He said pointing at her fairly large and deep cut on her arm. "Okay." She said sullenly. She slithered out of the bed sluggishly, like she hadn't slept in ages.

_'Poor girl. Abused, held captive, and starved if only I could get my hands on the bastard that did this to her I would feel so much better. I mean not that I have any feelings for her but it's just horribly wring what he did to her. He should be brought to justice.' _Ichigo thought to himself.

After getting Rukia something to eat, Ichigo grabbed some rubbing alcohol, a few bandages, and a damp rag.

"Okay, Rukia, this might sting a bit, but in order to clean your wounds I'm going to need to put some rubbing alcohol on them."

"Just as long as they're clean, I won't mind." She responded.

Rukia jerked a bit when Ichigo applied the alcohol to some of her cuts. He then put bandages over the major ones and some healing salve on the minor cuts. "Well, I hope that's better." Ichigo said to her. "Yes, thank you very much…Strawberry." Rukia said giggling slightly. He smirked, "Thanks for the nickname, but my name means _'He who protects'_ so none of this "strawberry" stuff got it?" She looked at him and smiled ever so slightly. Ichigo could tell it was not a true smile because it did not reach her eyes. Just a simple movement of the face muscles with no emotion behind it. Ichigo knew this was going to be a long couple of weeks before he could find Rukia a safe place to live, or until she heals; both physically and mentally.

_**~A FEW HOURS LATER~**_

Dinner was a gift from the kamis for the extremely skinny Rukia, and afterwards Ichigo and Rukia sat down and watched some television. They were watching some random talk show Rukia had never heard of. After about an hour or two Ichigo had fallen asleep on the couch, so Rukia took the remote and immediately started flipping through the channels. As soon as she reached channel 137 she stopped flipping the channels. She had found her favorite show of all time. Chappy the Bunny Rabbit! She hadn't watched this since before…since before…her eyes immediately became moist as her mind drifted off to the hellish memories of her fucked up past.

_'Why? Why did it have to happen to me? Why did it have to happen at all? What went wrong? I was a good girlfriend and Renji was a good boyfriend…What happened to him? Why does he hate me now? All I am to him is just…just another _**toy **_for his disgusting hands to molest.'_

Rukia shut the TV off and wandered back to the room Ichigo had let her stay in. She couldn't stop the sobs from coming. She had to cry herself to sleep that night. The lights were on, yet she still had nightmares about the sick bastard. Her dreams were about the many times he had cut her, slapped her, beat her with baseball bats, molested her, raped her; the one time he had managed to break her leg. They had actually gone to the hospital for that and every time she went back to a room to be looked at by a doctor alone he would glare at her. It was as if he was warning her that if she said anything that would get him arrested, he would surely beat her harder and rape her more than usual.

Her nightmares continued throughout the night; breaking the small girl's soul even more with every single memory that flashed through her dream.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Soooo? How'd you like it? I know that it's short, but it's about 100+ words than the first chapter! Yay! I increased my chappy sizes! Hahaha! I hope it was good! **

**Now, in the reviews, I would like some ideas for the next chappy. I'm gonna wait to add the REAl Ichiruki stuff till later in the story. So like what should I do in the 3rd chapter? Hrm? Thanks to all my readers! (Even if u don't review)**

**BTW: Just wanted to let all my readers know, I went over this chappy and TOTALLY edited it so, hopefully, it wont seem so rushed. I replaced it with one that was more befitting of its dark theme. Again, the IchiRuki stuff won't happen for another couple chappies...nd no I DONT mean Chappy the Bunny! XDD I intend to have at LEAST 10 chapters for this fic. I want about 15 but im not sure if I'll get that far or not. Guess I'll just have to see.**

**~AnimeFreak134~**


	3. Chapter 3: Road to Recovery Begins

_**DISCLAIMER: I do not, nor have I ever, owned Bleach or Ichigo, or any other characters in this story.**_

_**OMFG! I'm SOOOO sorry! It's been forever since I've updated this story! I had midterms, science fair, tight schedules, and tons of homework! I also had writers block...lol Well I hope you like this chapter! I tried to make it longer.**_

_**~ICHIGO~**_

Ichigo awoke the next morning sprawled across the couch. He got up and rubbed his tired eyes. Ichigo noticed Rukia was nowhere in sight. He snuck a look at the clock on the wall. 5:47 am. He was walking back to his room when he heard whimpering from the guest room. He walked up to the and hesitantly put his hand on the knob. Suddenly, there was a bloodcurdling scream coming from inside the room. Ichigo rushed in and ran over to Rukia who was crying and writhing in her sleep.

"Rukia! Rukia! Wake up! Rukia it's just a dream! Wake up!" he yelled as he tried to shake her awake.

"PLESE! DON'T! STOP! NOOOOOOO!" Rukia jerked up in bed sobbing.

"R-Rukia, are you…alright?" Ichigo asked quietly.

She looked over at him with tears flooding from her violet orbs down her pale and gaunt cheeks. There were two things that Ichigo saw in her eyes. Sadness and…fear? _'Is she scared of me?'_

Ichigo reached over to her to put his hand on her shoulder in kind gesture. She flinched and scooted away from him. "Sorry..." he said as he pulled his hand away. "But, seriously Rukia, are you okay? You don't look well."

"I-I had a nightmare ab-b-bout…ab-b-bout…" she couldn't finish the sentence because of her sobs escaping her lips. She put her head in her hands and cried her little heart out. Ichigo could only stare at her with sympathy and sadness in his eyes. How he wished he could help her. But because of Rukia's past with her abusive boyfriend, she doesn't want any man to get near her, let alone touch her. "Sorry Ichigo, I appreciate what you have done for me, but would you mind going away? I wish to be alone." She said with her back turned to him. "A-Alright. I guess I'll go, but if you need anything just yell. Okay?" Rukia nodded in response. "Okay, well I'm gonna go make breakfast since we're already up. Want anything in particular?" She didn't respond, so Ichigo got up and silently closed the door. He walked to the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast.

_**~RUKIA~**_

'_Pull yourself together Rukia! You're a Kuchiki! Kuchiki's do NOT cry over simple nightmares…Ahh…What the hell am I thinking? I'm not a real Kuchiki, and this nightmare was horrible. It was like it was actually happening!'_

Tears flooding from her eyes, Rukia curled up in a ball under the warm covers of the bed that Ichigo had let her use. '_Ichigo. He's only been kind to me. Not making me fear him in any way. Why couldn't…Renji…be like him? So kind and extremely generous to a complete stranger he met on the street. I-I haven't been able to thank him properly. I mean I did day thank you, but I also told him to go away. To keep my past _IN _the past I should start to not think about the horrible things that happened to me. Maybe, Ichigo could be my friend. I could really use Momo's help to get me through this. I really miss them.'_

Rukia fell asleep again. Except this time she went to sleep with peaceful and content thoughts in her head instead of the hellish memories that haunt her mind during the day. She thought of her friends, her nii-sama, her sister Hisana, and…Ichigo.

_**~11:30 AM~ ~ICHIGO~**_

Ichigo had gone to check on Rukia again only to find her asleep with a peaceful look on her face. A small smile graced his lips at the sight of seeing the abused girl be content, even if it was only for a short time. He had just been watching TV and going on the computer. Utter boredom. God, he wished for something to do. He made his way over to his room. In the room lay his acoustic guitar.

'_I guess I could play…' _he thought as he picked up the instrument.

_**~RUKIA~**_

"Ungh….what time is it?" Rukia moaned to herself as she peered over to the alarm clock. 11:43 am.

Just as she sat up in bed, being more content than usual as a result of her happy dreams, she could hear music coming through the walls. Beautiful guitar playing. She couldn't depict the song but it was beautiful all the same.

'_Is that Ichigo playing? He's very good at it.'_

Rukia crawled off the bed and slowly walked over to her door. Exiting the room she tip-toed a little ways down the small hall to Ichigo's room. The door was open so she peered in. He was sitting on the end of his bed playing his guitar. Not wanting to be seen, Rukia sat on the floor next to the door and simply listened to the rhythmic and southing notes coming from the guitar.

'_Ah-ha! Now I know where I've heard that music before! It's the acoustic guitar part from _'Your Guardian Angel' _by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I loved that song. It kind of fits him. Ichigo, he's like my guardian angel.'_

A small sweet smile graced her lips at that thought. The song switched to something she didn't know but it was very sweet and peaceful. Rukia closed her eyes, letting her head slowly sway side to side in tune with the strumming of the guitar. She felt so at peace, like nothing could hurt her.

That was until reality came crashing back down on her small shoulders. Tears were in her eyes but she held them back as she kept telling herself that what happens in the past stays in the past.

Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she made herself known by saying, "You're very good at that."

Ichigo looked up from his guitar to see Rukia peering in from his door. He smiled. "Thanks, but truthfully, I'm still an amateur."

"I don't care it was pretty." She said with a smile that lit up her face.

Ichigo couldn't help smiling back. It felt good to see someone as hurt as her smile again.

"Hey, Rukia, would you like something to eat? It's just about lunch time and you look starving."

"Uh, sure, thank you." She replied timidly, still a bit awkward around him. After all she had only been here for two days.

Lunch was served soon after. A nice main meal of ramen and a side of rice. Rukia ate everything given to her. When they both finished eating they sat down on the couch watching TV again. Rukia was on one side curled up with her arms wrapped around her knees, while Ichigo was on the other side of the couch slouched down with his feet propped up on the coffee table.

The day went on without any problems or tears. The dream Rukia had had last night had helped her take her first step on the road to recovery.

'_I think I'm going to be alright here. And I think I'm starting to feel better about my past. Although, it is going to be awhile till I'm fully recovered.'_

_**~ICHIGO~**_

'_Rukia seems to be doing a lot better. No tears at all today, well except this morning. Still, that's a good sign. She'll probably be back to normal in the future. Hopefully the near future.'_

**A/N: Well, how was it? I tried REALLY hard to make this chappy a bit longer. Hope it worked :]**

**Also, sorry for any typos in any chapters in this story. I rely fully on Microsoft Office Word to look for the corrections. ^_^**


	4. Chapter 4: Fending for Herself Today

**So like HAI guys! I FIANLLY updated this story! As you know (hopefully) I have been working on another story "To Hell and Back" and it has taken up a ton of my time to type/write it! Well I hope this chappy is okay I mean I spent like FOREVER trying to get this over 2ooo words - which i did btw...21oo words EXACTLY for my story (A/N and this not included of course) Well ENJOY! 3**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach...well i DO own bleach...but not the anime...that detergent works wonders on my clothes! ;P**

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"Hey! Rukia, you up yet?" Ichigo said through the door cautiously.

Rukia groaned. _'What time is it?' _Rukia peered over at the alarm clock from under the fluffy covers. 5:47 am. "Why are you up so early?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I have to leave for the day. I have to go to work, but I should be back around 4:30 or maybe sometime around 5:00."

"Oh…alright." Rukia was kind of sad. She had to stay in this place all alone? What would she do with no one to keep her company? What would happen if she started to cry again?

"Rukia? You okay in there? I just wanted to let you know I was leaving; I didn't want you to wake up and feel like I abandoned you."

Rukia felt something tug at her once very broken heart. She was not sure what it was but she certainly liked it. "A-Actually Ichigo, I appreciate that very much. Go to work. I'll still be here."

"Okay. You can pretty much do anything you want while I'm gone." Ichigo opened the door and stood in the doorway. "Xbox is in the cabinet below the TV. There are all kinds of foods and snacks in the cupboards and the fridge. The drinks are in there too. Uhh…oh yeah. If you want a change of clothes you can go through the closet. My younger sisters come here sometimes and they just leave stuff here instead of having to pack stuff."

"Thanks Ichigo." She still felt a bit awkward around him. _'I wonder if it has something to do with my…my time…with R-Ren…Renji. Am I still scared to be around other men? I mean Ichigo is definitely better than _he _ever was.'_

"You're welcome Rukia. Well, I gotta go before I'm late. Bye."

"Bye Ichigo. Have a good day!" Rukia was surprised at the peppiness in her voice. _'Must still have a bit of a sugar rush going on from last night when I ate all that ice cream Ichigo said I could have cause there's _no _way I could be so peppy this early in the morning.'_

"Oh yeah, if you need to contact me during the day my cell phone number is in front of the phone on the kitchen counter."

Rukia nodded as Ichigo closed the door and she slipped back under the covers to gain at least another two hours of sleep.

"_Rukia!" came an eerie voice from somewhere in the darkness she was surrounded in. "Where have you gone ya little bitch? Why'd ya have to go and run off on me? I am very angry with you; your punishment will be more severe now than ever for disobeying me!" Rukia was running with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She tripped over something on the ground and fell. A large and very frightening figure stood above Rukia. "Found ya!" Rukia screamed at the top of her lungs – closing her eyes tight she immediately felt something around her small body. It wasn't painful or even slightly unpleasant. She opened her eyes and glanced around the new environment. A large green and grassy field with flowers and a bright blue sky with a large yellow sun caught her eyes first. Then she glanced behind her to see what was around her. A large man with and orange mop of hair on his head was hugging her to his chest and had his chin settled lightly on the top of her head. She was utterly happy and not even slightly hesitant or afraid that this man would hurt her. She was at peace within herself._

"Ichigo…" Rukia's violet orbs fluttered open. Her cheeks turned a rosy pink from her dream. How could she dream of something like that when she hadbeen afraid to approach _any _male for the past year? Why was Ichigo the only exception to this? Shouldn't she be more afraid of him than she was right now? _'I mean I know I'm still afraid to get close enough to touch him but I don't think I'm supposed to be comfortable to be in the same room as another man.' _

Rukia was stumped as to why he was the only exception. _'I've got it! It's because he saved me and took me in! That's probably why! I was desperate so I ran to the first person I saw, asked for help, and I didn't care if it was a guy! Just as long as it wasn't…R-Re-Ren…..Renji' _Rukia felt a shiver of fear course through her bruised body.

She realized the eerie voice from her dream it was _his _voice. She held in her tears. No more crying. She had to be brave and get over what happened.

Rukia turned her head towards the clock; 8 o'clock exactly. She pushed the covers away and crawled out of bed – her body was reluctant to get up. Heading towards the kitchen Rukia caught a glimpse of a picture sitting on a bookshelf. It was a picture of a woman with long light brown hair and a big smile on her pretty face. Beside the woman was a tall man with spiky black hair and stubble on his face. Two little girls, one with black hair and the other with orange-ish brown hair, held onto the man's legs. Finally, a little boy with vibrant and spiky orange hair hugging the woman's waist with a large smile planted on his face. Rukia suspected that this was his family.

She entered the kitchen – she wasn't even thinking about the picture or her dream. '_Okay…now where is the cereal again?' _Rukia looked through about five cabinets until she came across a couple boxes in the cabinet next to the fridge.

'_Hmm…Should I eat the Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Special K, or the Frosted Mini Wheats?'_

Rukia snatched the box of Frosted Flakes down from the cabinet and began another search for a bowl and a spoon. After she found those items, Rukia opened the fridge to grab the milk. She sat down at the island and started to eat her cereal after she prepared it.

She had finished eating and now had no idea what to do. Thinking about what Ichigo – the name brought a smile to her face – had told her, there was an Xbox. "Wonder what kinds of games Ichigo has? I hope he has something I can play." Rukia started to talk to herself.

She picked a game that looked easy enough and turned on the Xbox. She popped the game into the CD slot and grabbed a controller. The TV was turned on and switched to "TV Game" mode. A video opening greeted Rukia and then the title screen came up. "Final Fantasy XIII" popped up and Rukia began to play.

Several hours later, Rukia beat a large boss and saved the game. She shut down the Xbox and went into the kitchen to prepare herself some lunch. She looked in the freezer and found frozen pizza. Rukia headed over to the microwave and glanced at the time; 12:46 pm. _'Ichigo should be home in about four hours or so.' _

The Midget devoured the pizza in record time and was searching through the fridge until she found the milk and some strawberry syrup to make some delicious and very pink strawberry milk. She walked towards her room with a tall glass of the milk in her small hands. She paused next to the bookshelf and looked at some of the titles. "Romeo and Juliet" "Hamlet" "A Midsummer Night's Day" and several other books by William Shakespeare greeted her large violet orbs. Who would have guessed the big and tough looking Strawberry would like poetry so much? Especially because of that whole "mess with me and your dead" air around him and his scowl that seems to grace his features every time he's not paying attention – it's even there when he pays attention sometimes too.

Several other books were there too. Rukia grabbed "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer and skipped into her room. The book was obviously one of the many items that Ichigo's sisters left here. Rukia plopped onto the comfy bed and buried her nose within the pages of the book.

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Ichigo was just walking out of the clinic where he worked as he glanced at his watch. _'Wonder if Rukia's okay?' _He got into his car – a silver Honda Coupe – and started to drive back to his apartment.

He hopped out of the car and started to walk up the stairs. He took out his keys and unlocked the door. "Yo, Rukia! I'm home!" He shouted.

Rukia popped her raven haired head out of her door and smiled at Ichigo. "Welcome back."

"Were you okay here by yourself?" Rukia nodded in response.

"That's good." Ichigo slipped off his shoes and put his jacket in the tiny coat closet by the door.

"So, what did you do all day? I mean it must have gotten a bit boring around here."

"Actually, I was pretty content. I mean I ate breakfast, played on the Xbox, ate some lunch, and then I started to read a book."

"Oh…well that's good." There was a bit of an awkward silence as Ichigo stared at Rukia; Rukia stared back at Ichigo. Said Strawberry walked past Rukia, into his room, and closed the door. Rukia slipped back into her room and went back to reading.

Dinner went by uneventful - Ichigo had made some chicken and vegetables. Rukia and Ichigo didn't say anything except for "Thanks" or "Your welcome."

Rukia's thoughts were all about the orange haired man sitting across from her. _'I wonder if he has a girlfriend. Well, he doesn't seem to have a picture of another girl around his apartment and he hasn't used his cell phone once. I wonder if that's the natural color of his hair. I've never seen anyone with hair like that. His eyes are just...just beautiful. The color is a liquidy amber and when he looks at me I feel safe and cared for. He's actually very attractive with the leanness of his body. He was strong too. I love how Ichigo wears those tight muscle shirts.' _Rukia looked away from Ichigo's face with a slight blush. Her thoughts were getting out of hand.

Ichigo's head was in a similar place. _'Rukia looks better today. Her bruises have started to yellow and the cuts have started to go away. Her cheeks look less gaunt and it looks healthier. There's a fire behind her large violet eyes. A spark which lets me glimpse into her once broken soul. Her eyes, they're so…so pretty. The purple seems to swirl and the largeness of them makes her look like an angel. She's so pretty. Why did that bastard have to abuse her? She was so small and fragile, how could anyone have the heart to hurt her? Her body has the perfect curves, and even though she wasn't physically gifted in her chest area, she was still the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.' _Ichigo turned his head away blushing a bit. His thoughts were about to get out of hand.

After they had eaten, they took their spots on the couch as Ichigo turned the TV on. He tossed the remote to Rukia. She blinked a few times in confusion until she realized he was letting her pick what they watched. Rukia found a movie she used to like very much; "Transformers." She loved how realistic the transformers were – as did Ichigo.

They enjoyed the movie and laughed at some of the parts. Rukia started to dose off near the end. She laid down – her head next to Ichigo's leg – and closed her eyes. Ichigo looked down at her. She looked so peaceful. Ichigo waited a few minutes before he reached down with his hand brushed the hair out of her face. He slid off the couch and crouched in front of Rukia's sleeping form. He placed a light kiss on her forehead before he picked her up gently. He walked into her room and set her down on the bed. He pulled the covers over her small body and left the room. He went into his own room and fell onto his bed.

The last thoughts that ran through his head were about a certain raven haired midget. He fell asleep with a small grin on his lips. He slept a deep sleep – dreams of said midget clouded his mind. This was going to be a nice couple of weeks with Rukia here.

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**A/N: Soooo? Did ya like it? I spent FOREVER on it so I expect at least 5 reviews please? I feel better when I get reviews...I might even update sooner if I get them too! Lol **

**If you haven't already, check out my other stories too! "Shattering Hearts" (InuKag) and "To Hell and Back" (my other IchiRuki fic)**

**Peace out yuu lil rabid gummy bears! ~AF134**

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**(^-^) Bunneh says byye too! XD**

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	5. Chapter 5: Painful Memories and Injuries

**Alright before we begin here I just wanted to let you guys know that I started to type this up for my other story _To Hell and Back _but towards the end of the dream paragraph, I decided to change it. Also, this is the LONGEST chappy I have EVER written! 2,805 words (not including A/N and this bolded chiz) Enjoy reading my lil evil robot monkeys! 3**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Bleach or any of the well known things i use in my fanfics (like FFXIII in the last chappy and COD: Black Ops in this chappy tht stuff)**

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_Blackness engulfed her body as she screamed with unending fear. Her eyes gaping at the pure darkness surrounding her small body. Nothing. There was nothing around her; just darkness. Her heart pounding as she heard sinister laughing coming from behind her. She swirled around trying to see within the lonely blackness. The laughing wouldn't stop. Unending psychotic laughing. A light appeared. Within that light a tall man stood. White hair, white skin, white everything – his clothes looked foreign and from an older time. He turned his face towards hers. She knew that face, except this one was twisted. The eyes were pure evil – yellow irises surrounded by pure black; a sinisterly psychotic smile plastered on his face. He was laughing. Rukia was now sobbing. What had happened to him? What had happened to make him laugh like that? He screamed as another man came out of the darkness – right behind the white man. A large knife in his hands and a strangely shaped red pony-tail on his head. Rukia stopped moving completely. It was _him. _He was the cause of what had happened to the white colored man before her. The red haired, and even more sinister, man walked towards her now trembling form. He was laughing now too. Why? Why did this always happen to her? What had she done to deserve this? She turned her gaze towards the white man; he had stopped laughing and was now holding his head in his hands. He was screaming – he was in pain. She ran past the red haired man towards the white one. She grabbed his wrist and then she felt a stabbing pain in her back. Eyes wide, Rukia turned her head around. The red haired man had thrown the knife right into the small of her back. The man in front of her was now gazing down with amber eyes full of despair and sadness. She slumped forward and the now amber eyed man hugged her close to his chest. The scene around her started to morph from blackness to a night sky full of twinkling stars and a dark grassy field. No longer was the darkness scary, for now it was a peaceful area where she was in the arms of the amber eyed man._

Rukia opened her eyes. She wiped the tears from her eyes. Her nightmare had gone from hellish to peaceful. She was confused as to why this was happening. It was if she was being told by her mind that she should move on to happier things. But she knew all too well how hard that was.

She sat up in bed and stretched her arms above her head. Pushing the covers back she threw her legs over the side of the bed. She walked over to the door and headed out into the kitchen. There was a note stuck to the fridge.

'Rukia,

I had to go to work again, and I will have to go again every day of the week except for weekends and a few holidays. I hope you'll be fine home alone. –Ichigo'

She took the note off the fridge and shoved it into the pocket on the small pair of pajama shorts she had borrowed from the closet in her room. Ichigo's sisters were the same exact size as her. She was a bit surprised at first, but then she just felt downtrodden. She hadn't grown an inch since she graduated high school and that was nearly four years ago. She was 16 at the time - head of her class. She had skipped a grade because she was so smart and she had a late birthday. The thoughts brought up many happy memories from her teenage years. Although, all good things must come to an end. The thoughts of the past year of her life came into her mind. A memory flooded her mind blurring her vision with tears. She could feel the ghost of pain wash over her back and lower areas.

"_Oi! Bitch! Where the hell are you?" Renji sounded pissed off. Rukia was hiding on the closet. He had come home really drunk and high this time. When she had seen him enter the apartment he was carrying a dagger. She was afraid of what was going to happen tonight. Her leg still hadn't healed from the time he had broken it. She had wanted to tell the doctors so badly about how she was being abused but the look on Renji's face was murderous._

"_Found Ya!" Renji yelled as he grabbed her wrist. "AHHHHHHHHH!" Rukia let out a blood curdling scream. "Shut up!" He slapped her across her face. Her eyes were as large as saucers. She was petrified. She knew what was going to happen tonight._

_Renji took the dagger and started to rip off Rukia's shirt. When he had done that he started to carve into her pale skinned stomach with the dagger – not to deep as to kill her though. She screamed and writhed in pure agony. Blood was covering the dagger and getting all over Renji and the floor. Rukia was sobbing as he continued to make slow and painful cuts all over her body. She couldn't stop him. _

_He threw the dagger to the side and grabbed Rukia's head and smashed his putrid lips to hers. He thrust his tongue into her unwilling mouth as she cried and yelled. He pulled away and slapped her face again. He then dropped her onto the ground and went on to kick her stomach several times._

Rukia remembered he had raped her several times that night as well. During this memory she had fallen to her knees and had been gaping at the floor with large terror filled eyes. Tears were in her eyes, blurring her vision. _'Strong, Rukia, you have to be strong.' _She held in her tears. The dream from earlier came flooding into her mind.

What would she do if Ichigo turned on her like Renji had? Will he? Would he? What if all men were like that to her? Would she ever be able to be happy with a loving husband and children? Where was her happiness in life? She at least deserved a best friend she could trust and have good times with.

Wiping the ever present tears from her eyes, she stood up. She was no longer hungry so she sat down on the couch and flipped the TV on. She dozed off in the middle of a "Chappy the Rabbit" cartoon.

Ichigo had gotten out of work early today. There were no more scheduled appointments and his dad said that if any emergencies came up that he couldn't handle he would call Ichigo.

He had a lot on his mind. Things like: Who was this Rukia girl living in his apartment? Will she ever recover from the nightmare known as the past, what like year or so, of her life? Is she afraid of me? He was very confused. This girl who had met on the street that one night had so much fear showing on her face it made his heart lurch. That hadn't happened since the death of his mother.

Ichigo thought back to the night he had found Rukia. It was very late and he was walking home from a late night at the clinic. He was thinking about how tired he was and how much he wanted to just go home and sleep when all of a sudden he saw a girl standing in the middle of the sidewalk. She looked bone thin and paler than paper. She had bruises covering almost all of her exposed skin and a few cuts here and there. She was petite but he realized then that she wasn't a girl. She was a short woman. He could only tell because of the mature form of her body.

She had looked in his direction and he peered into her eyes. They looked dead. There was no life within the deep indigo eyes, just fear and sadness. She had run up to him begging for help. The petite woman was tugging at his heart strings again. He had introduced himself, said he would help her, and then he had picked her up and headed towards his apartment.

What a night that was.

Ichigo sighed as he approached his apartment building. He started up the stairs and started searching for his keys. He pulled them out and shoved them into the lock on his door when he had reached it. He heard the click and pushed open the door. He heard the TV was on and some whimpering.

He took off his shoes and jacket. He made his way over to the TV area passing by a digital clock flashing "12:23 AM" in bright red letters. Amber eyes settled on the pale face of a whimpering Rukia. She looked like she was having a nightmare. She had started to cry in her sleep and she let out a few gasps of pain and fear. He tried to shake her awake. It wasn't working.

"Rukia, hey Rukia! Wake up! Oh come on Rukia, get up you're having a nightmare!" he said this in a loud whisper right next to her ear. Her eyes shot open and she let out a small scream. She looked over at Ichigo before she threw out her arms around his torso. He was a bit stunned at first but then he too wrapped his arms around her. She sobbed into his chest.

She had another horrid nightmare. It was the one that always seemed to lurk in the shadows of her mind. The memory of the first night Renji had raped her. It had hurt the most; physically and mentally. It was the day Renji went from loved to feared; pure to tainted; good to evil.

Ichigo had no idea what could have caused her to act like this but he only knew she needed comfort. It was a bit awkward for him but he felt that this was right. Having Rukia in his arms just felt _right. _Like she was supposed to be there. He supposed it was because she seemed like another sister or good friend he wanted to protect. Yeah, that was it.

Rukia came to her senses after Ichigo had started to murmur things like "Shh, Rukia it's okay." or "Nothing's wrong." or "Rukia, no one's going to hurt you anymore." Although, the one she reacted to the most was the last one. He had said, "Rukia, don't worry, I'm here to protect you." She had felt him tugging at her heart again.

Why does he do that to her? Make her feel so happy and safe? So warm and fuzzy on the inside when he smiles at her? She just didn't understand it.

She pulled away and so did he. There was an awkward silence.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to…uh…happen." Rukia said breaking the air of awkwardness.

"N-no it's okay. You had a nightmare. It's not your fault."

"Thanks Ichigo, for everything. I never said thank you before and I wanted you to know how grateful I am." He smiled at this.

"You're welcome. I mean how could I turn down helping you? That would have been so cruel." He said this with his usual scowl returning to his face.

"You know you always have a scowl plastered on your face right?"

"Really?" his scowl was still there but he looked a bit surprised. He _seriously _didn't know that? Hadn't anyone ever told him that?

"Uh… Yeah really. Did something happen to make you so grumpy looking most of the time?"

Ichigo's face saddened. "Yeah…"

"Oh… I'm sorry. You don't have to say anymore." She felt kind of bad for making him sad.

"No, no it's okay. It was my mom. I was just nine years old when she was murdered." Rukia gasped. "I was walking home from the karate dojo with her. We were walking by the river when some men came out of the woods holding guns in their hands. They saw me and my mother and made their way over to us. They started to gang up around us. She told me to run home and tell dad. I ran from the men but not before I heard my mother struggle to get away. I looked back as she hit one of them and then another pulled out a gun. He pulled the trigger on her. Right through the center of her chest." Rukia was gaping at Ichigo. He had seen his own mother killed right in front of him. No one should ever have to go through something like that.

"But, it's nothing compared to what you probably had to go through." Ichigo placed a hand on her cheek. She flinched a little at the contact but settled down. She still wasn't exactly comfortable with human contact. The hug was an exception, she hadn't been thinking at the time. Ichigo looked into her violet eyes. He could see the fear and sadness, but this time he could see a glimmer of life in them. He stood up and went into the kitchen. Rukia followed after him.

As she was walking she winced. One of the larger cuts on her stomach reopened itself when she was writhing from her nightmare. She had not told Ichigo of the cuts on her stomach. After the one night Renji had brought home the dagger he used it every time she tried to hide from him; which happened fairly often.

Ichigo turned around to see Rukia gripping her stomach. A small splotch of blood was forming on her night shirt. "Rukia!" he gasped. "Are you okay?"

Rukia looked up with pain in her eyes. "Y-yeah." She yelped a little as she took another step forward.

Ichigo walked back to her and picked her up gently. He walked into the kitchen and set her on the counter. He went to the bathroom to pull out some medical supplies. He went back to the kitchen. "Okay, Rukia, I'm going to need you to lift up your shirt a little. Just so I can see your stomach.

She hesitated. "Rukia… it's not going to get any better if you just ignore it." She looked into his eyes. She felt that she could trust him. She lifted up her shirt to the edge of her bra; no further. He let out a large gasp.

"Dear gods Rukia, why didn't you tell me about these earlier? These look like very serious wounds."

"I-I thought they would heal on their own. I m-mean they were scabbed over and didn't hurt me much."

Ichigo reached out his finger and lightly touched one of the cuts. She winced and whimpered at the contact.

Ichigo pulled out some rubbing alcohol. "Okay, Rukia this is going to sting – a lot. If you want these cuts to heal I'm going to have to clean them and then bandage them, okay?"

Rukia was reluctant to answer at first but then she nodded. Ichigo took out a small cloth and poured some of the rubbing alcohol onto it. He then took the dampened cloth and started to clean Rukia's cuts.

At first there was nothing, but then there was a searing pain on her cuts. She screamed out before she clamped her mouth shut. Her eyes teared up a bit at the sudden pain.

Her sudden scream of pain made Ichigo flinch. He didn't like that he was the cause of her pain – even if it _was _to help her.

Rukia calmed down as Ichigo removed the cloth from her stomach. He then proceeded to take out a roll of bandages and started to wrap them around her abdomen. He took out some kind of bandage clip to hold them in place. She sighed as the pain finally ceased; Ichigo did the same.

The day went on with no other abnormal occurrences. Just a simple lunch of onigiri and lo mien, some book reading, a few rounds of COD: Black Ops PVP, and then some spaghetti for dinner.

Ichigo and Rukia kept their after dinner routine of going to the couch and watching TV until one or both of them fell asleep.

Rukia was very content and felt at peace here. She liked the warmth of the atmosphere around her. This place, Ichigo's apartment, was just wonderful. She dosed off with happy memories of her school days with her friends and the very recent memories of meeting a certain orange haired Strawberry.

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**A/N: Soooo? Was it good even though it was kind of like rushed? I got this updated pretty fast this time and I'm proud! I would like you all to know that I did this for my dear friend ALEX who is currently reading and loving this story. I mean how could I say no to him? He's like only one of the coolest people I've ever met. (Yep Alex I'm talking about you! XDD) Well review so I know if I'm doigna good or very sucky job at this story! Alex if you be reading this right now I expect a review from yuu to! You can leev a comment even if you dont have an account on here so HA! YUU HAV NO EXCUSE!  
**

**Hahaha! Well anyway farwell my Gummi Bears of DOOM! ~ AF134**


	6. Chapter 6: Good to Bad & Bad to Worse

**A/N: **Well I feel like a total bitch ya know? I haven't updated in like FOREVER! Please forgive me! I worked my ass off to get this thing written! I even made it over 3ooo words! Well hope ya like it! Also, I'd like to send a SPECIAL shout out to the following people to thank them for reviews:** finaldragonquest, A. McCubbin, Kittens Hellfire, Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius **(kewl name btw), **Tenshi-no-Megami **(you too),** The Dark End **(EPIC NAME), **donotlookatme,** and** laurenbear123**! Thank you all so much for your reviews and I hope you like this chapter!

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Bleach, Ichigo, Rukia, OR Chappy OR Halo, got that? But I DO own this laptop, my feet, the taco I ate for lunch, and the CD that I'm listening to! =3**

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Rukia had been staying with Ichigo for about 2 weeks now. It's now a routine of Rukia waking up, seeing Ichigo's "goodbye" notes, and carrying on with her day. Well, except on weekends when Ichigo is home.

It is now a Saturday and Rukia awakes to the sound of a certain Strawberry knocking on her door.

"Hey, Rukia! You up yet?" Ichigo asked in a quiet tone.

Yawning, Rukia replied with a simple "Yeah" before getting up and opening the door.

"Do you need something?" Rukia said in a curious voice.

"Umm…sort of…I was just wondering if you'd want to get out of this apartment and go into Karakura Town today."

"Really?" Rukia's eyes sparkled with happiness. "I'd love to go into town today! Thank you Ichigo!"

"No problem. Honestly, I think I should have asked you sooner." Ichigo had a smirk plastered onto his face.

Rukia smiled back. "Well I better get ready then!" Rukia scurried over to the dresser, pulled out the clothes she'd need, and bolted straight to the bathroom to shower.

Ichigo chuckled as the small girl flew past him. He walked back into his room to put on some of his own clothes.

Ichigo could hear the hum of the water droplets hitting the shower floor as he pulled on a nice pair tight fitting jeans. He then pulled on a white t-shirt and a thick brown jacket. He shoved some high top sneakers before walking into the kitchen to start to make breakfast.

Right before he could get out the pancake mix, Ichigo heard a loud banging sound from the shower. Being alarmed Ichigo rushed to the bathroom. "Rukia! Are you okay?"

Rukia cussed from her spot on the shower floor. She had slipped when turning around to grab the conditioner and hit her head on the small ledge where the hair product was. She could see a thin line of red flowing down the drain. Her head was pounding when she heard Ichigo from the door.

"Ungh…I-I think so…" Rukia replied just loud enough for Ichigo to hear.

Pushing herself off the floor and shutting of the water, Rukia grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her bare body that was dripping with water.

"Can I come in Rukia?" Ichigo had concern etched into his voice. Rukia's reply was to open the door with one hand while holding her head with the other. Ichigo's eyes widened at the trail of blood on the right side of the violet eyed girl's face.

"R-Rukia!" He gasped. Ichigo lightly set his hand on her shoulder and guided Rukia into his room. She sat on the bed still holding onto her head. "Does it hurt much?"

"J-just stings a bit."

"Could you take your hand off of it for a second? I need to take a look at it."

"O-Okay." Rukia took her hand from her head.

Ichigo tilts her head slightly to get a better view of the injury. "Phew, it's just a small cut about an inch wide. Nothing serious, although it will be a bit sore for awhile." Ichigo gently touched the small wound which caused Rukia to wince at the contact.

"Sorry! Here, lemme get a cloth to clean up the blood."

Rukia watched the Berry walk away and come back seconds later with a wet cloth.

"This _might _hurt a bit." Ichigo started to gently rub the cut; Rukia winced once before relaxing and bearing the insignificant pain.

After wiping off the blood, Ichigo got a small bottle of medial cream from his pocket and rubbed some on the cut to soothe the small sting.

Rukia smiled a small smile. "Thank you Ichigo!" She said popping up, forgetting she was wearing a towel. She walked to the door when it started to fall off. Ichigo turned tomato red. "R-RUKIA! Y-YOUR TOWEL!" he yelled in embarrassment while covering his eyes at what he had seen. Rukia squealed as she grabbed her towel and rushed back into the bathroom with a burning hot face.

Ichigo finally removed his hand from his eyes and fell backwards onto the bed. He was extremely embarrassed.

Rukia leaned against the door, her cheeks burning from what had just transpired, and just sank down low to the cool tiled floor of the bathroom.

"_Oh my god! That was so embarrassing! But at least he covered his eyes. He's very sweet and apparently _very _modest." _Rukia's thought as she crawled across the floor to get her clothes.

She pulled on a nice pair of dark blue skinny jeans along with a white shirt that exposed her shoulders and seemed to hang down – as if the shirt were too big. She wore a purple spaghetti strap underneath – the shirt hung loose to reveal the straps. Her shoes were black high-tops with purple paint splotches and a white tip and edge. Rukia stood up and opened the door hesitantly; her cheeks were still a bit of a rosy pink so, yes, she was still embarrassed. She stood out in the small hallway looking into Ichigo's room to see if he was there. Not finding him in there she tip-toed towards the kitchen so as not to let Ichigo know she was there. She jumped behind the small wall dividing the kitchen from the living room.

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Ichigo looked up from the pancakes he was making for a fairly late breakfast. He sweat-dropped. There he could see the top of Rukia's raven black hair sticking up from behind the small wall between the kitchen and living room. She was so blatantly obvious – especially because she decided then to poke her head from around the corner. He smirked while she turned even pinker.

"What ya up to Rukes?"

"N-nothing!" she snapped a bit as she stood up and smoothed out the imaginary lines on her clothing.

"_Right…" _Ichigo said sarcastically before snickering. "But seriously, what were you doing?"

"I uhm….I was ah…..uhm…." Rukia stuttered trying to make up a good reason for her strange behavior. "I WAS PRETENDING TO BE A NINJA!" She practically shrieked.

Ichigo stopped what he was doing as his eyebrows twitched from the ridiculous answer. "You were being a… ninja?" The Strawberry burst into laughter. Rukia lowered her head and put her pointer fingers together – pushing them against each other again and again – as a nervous habit. Her cheeks were now as red as the setting sun.

"Seriously Rukia, the next time you get spotted while spying on me all ya gotta say is that you were curious as to what I was doing."

"O-Okay…" she sat down at one of the chairs at the small table while still twiddling her fingers.

"Alright, here we go! One large Chappy shaped pancake complete with chocolate chips and a whipped cream face!" Ichigo said a bit too energetically. Rukia giggled at his juvenile antics before digging into her delicious pancake.

"Cou ou paff teh syruuff?" Rukia said as she chewed on a bit bite of Chappy-cake.

"Huh?" Ichigo said. He had just sat down with his own plate of pancakes.

Swallowing Rukia replied, "I said, could please pass the syrup?"

"Oh, sure."

She poured an insanely large amount of syrup onto her food before digging in again. "Mmmmmmm…" was her only response.

Ichigo grinned at her cute reaction. _'Wait….Did I just think "cute reaction"?' _Ichigo thought.

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"Okay. Rukia, I need you to listen. When we are out and about I want you to stay close so I can keep my eyes on you at all times, got that?" She nodded. "Also, if there is _anything _you want to do or try – within reason – just tell me and we'll do it!" Rukia nodded happily while squealing like a little kid who just got a puppy for Christmas.

They were both in his silver car on the way to the shopping district of Karakura town. Rukia looked out her window admiring the scenery ass they sped by. She hadn't seen Karakura in over a year because of her… experience.

Ichigo pulled up into a parking space and got out of the car. He walked around and got the door for Rukia as well. "Thanks Ichi."

"You are very welcome Rukes." He smirked at their usual nicknames.

Rukia took in the area around her. People were _everywhere._ She began to panic a bit. The women she could handle; Ichigo she could handle; but _**NOT **_the men. She immediately scurried behind Ichigo and took hold of his lean yet muscular arm. She poked her head around with terrified eyes.

"Hey, Rukia, it's okay. They're not gonna hurt. Especially 'cause you got me here with you." He smiled while dislodging his arm and putting it around her shoulders.

The raven haired young women had grown more accustomed to Ichigo's close proximity and had actually learned to find comfort in it – especially now when there were _so many _men she didn't know.

"So, where'd you like to go first?" Ichigo looked at her waiting for an answer.

"Uhm… well there was one store I _really _have been dying to go to…"

"Well, come on, spit it out then."

He soon regretted his words.

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"Oh My Gosh! Ichigo look at this! It's a Chappy mug!" Rukia squeed running around the Chappy Store in a complete awe.

There were no other guys here so not only was she comfortable she was in a freaking dreamland. On the other hand, Ichigo was in a state of utter fear. The freaky Chappy face was _everywhere! _He was only here for the sweet little raven haired lady running rampant throughout the store like a madwoman. He sighed as he took in the stuff she had shoved into his arms for him to hold as she went on a freaking Chappy the Bunny rabbit stuff shopping spree. The cashier gave him knowing looks as if to say _'You are sooo whipped!' _He sighed once again and sifted in the spot he was standing.

"Ichigo! Look what I found!" Rukia came up from behind him. She shoved something on his head. "Aww! You look so cute with that on! Especially 'cause it hides that insane mop of orange hair on your head! She giggled at her own little joke before grabbed back the hat and shoved it into the quickly growing pile of Chappy based things in Ichigo's arms.

"Well, I think I got everything I wanted!" She smiled while skipping – literally skipping – to the cash register. Ichigo came with her and dropped everything onto the counter. After scanning everything Rukia had picked out – which was probably one of everything in the store – the cashier told him the price.

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"20,041 YEN? Rukia, do you even realize _how much _money you just made me spend?" Ichigo screeched after exiting the store.

She shrugged. "Hey, you were the one who said I could do whatever I wanted and I wanted to buy a whole bunch of Chappy things." She shot back before scrambling to his side to try to avoid all of the people walking around them.

"Ugh… I _hate _it when you're right!"

Rukia smirked in victory before her face returned to the look of a terrified little girl. She peered across the street to see a group of fairly scary looking men. She whimpered and got under Ichigo's arm before burying the side of her face into to his lean and muscular chest. He looked off into the direction she had just been looking at and scowled at the men. They were sending weir looks in their direction but his scowl eventually got them to stop.

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The twosome later walked into a small pizza shop after another couple hours of going into and out of many different stores. Ichigo got them a small cheese pizza and two sodas – Diet Dr. Pepper for himself and an Orange for Rukia. Rukia smiled as she sipped her fizzy orange drink and bit into her delicious cheesy pizza slice.

"So, Rukes, how're ya enjoying yourself?"

"Today is going on wonderfully! I haven't had this much fun since I kicked your ass at Halo earlier this week!"

"Hey! That was just luck!"

"Oh, so you call a headshot with a sniper three times in a row 'just luck'?" She smirked.

"Erm…. Uhh…" Ichigo stuttered trying to find an answer before giving up.

"Hah! That's what I thought!" She smiled and giggled; this was her second victory today.

"Oh just eat your pizza, midget…"

"Hey! I thought I _told _you not to call me that, _Strawberry!"_

"Oi! I told _you _not to call me that!"

They stopped before bursting into heartfelt laughter at their pure stupidity.

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Ichigo stretched as he sat on the park bench with Rukia at his side.

They had arrived at the park after they had gone into one last store - surprisingly, Ichigo enjoyed looking in Hot Topic for graphic tees; as did Rukia. Rukia had her head resting on Ichigo's shoulder with her eyes half open gazing at the sunset. She smiled at the serenity of the moment.

Ichigo smiled as he felt the midget's head rest on his shoulder. He was happy; really truly happy. Never since the death of his mother had he been so happy! How could this petite violet eyed woman change him so completely? He sighed in contentment as he rested his head lightly on top of hers.

Rukia let another smile grace her features at Ichigo's sweet gesture. This sweet, sweet man had saved her – not only from the hell of Renji, but from herself as well. The loneliness and betrayal had started eating away at Rukia almost a year ago and it had started to get to her. She had had thoughts of suicide but had somehow managed to hold them back from becoming reality. Ichigo had stopped those thoughts from entering her mind as well as the horrid nightmares of her past that she had had her first few days of living at his home. She was in a happy world now.

"Hey… Rukia…" Ichigo whispered.

"Yes?" she whispered back.

"I think we should head home. It's getting quite late."

"Of course." She smiled dully as Ichigo helped her up. They started walking back towards where Ichigo had parked his car. To get there faster he started down an alleyway. Right before exiting said alley, four very tall very large men with extremely huge muscles and scruffy looking faces stepped out from behind the two sides of the exit. Rukia started to shake in fear and grabbed onto Ichigo's arm in a death lock. Ichigo stiffened at her reaction. She was _terrified_ and these men were the reason.

"_Hey_, buddy, where _ya _headin to with _such_ a _pretty_ lady?" One man said; the slur in his voice evident.

"I _was _heading back to my car so we could go back home." Ichigo practically growled at the man.

"Well _too _bad orange boy… We _got different _plans." Another man slurred while taking another step towards them. Ichigo took a step back – Rukia did as well. She had tears welling up within her violet orbs. Now Ichigo was seriously pissed.

"Just let us get to our car!" Ichigo growled again.

"_Aww! C'mon _carrot top! We just _wanna _have some _fun _with tha _pretty lady!" _the first man said.

Ichigo lost it he lightly dislodged his arm from Rukia's grasp before running up to the burly man and sending a right hook right into the guy's jaw causing him to yell in pain.

"Get him BOYS!" the man snarled.

'_Shit!' _Ichigo thought as the other three went at him.

Rukia stared on in horror as the men kept beating Ichigo. Punches and kick were being given as well as received. Ichigo actually managed to take one man down. Two on one; still not fair.

"RUKIA!" she heard Ichigo shout. She looked up and her eyes widened even more. The man that Ichigo had punched first was standing right next to her, an evil glint in his eyes. She whimpered and flinched away from him; she let the tears fall freely now. The man backed her up into a wall before he started to _touch _her. She screamed as she froze in fear.

Hearing her scream, Ichigo totally lost sense of control. He beat down both of the men attacking him and ran towards the man and Rukia. "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF HER!" He yelled ramming into him from the side to knock him off Rukia. She collapsed into a sobbing heap on the cold ground staring at Ichigo; calling to him, within her eyes, to save her again.

The man actually pulled a knife from his pocket.

"!" The man screeched while rushing at Ichigo. He tried to dodge but couldn't do it completely. The man had aimed pretty low and since Ichigo had his arms up guarding his face and chest the man landed at fairly deep and jagged cut on the left side of Ichigo's stomach. Blood started pouring out and hit the ground with a strange sloshing sound. He dropped to his knees.

"AUGH!" He yelled grabbing his now bleeding side a deep pain filled scowl plastered itself onto his once serene and happy face.

"I-Ichi….." Rukia mumbled in shock and horror at the scene that just played before her eyes. "ICHIGO!" she screamed as more tears rushed down her face. Everything within her just snapped and she completely lost any sense of self control or even her fear. She got up and ran up behind the man and jumped on his back beating him as hard as she possibly could with her tiny fists. "Why'd you hurt him? WHY DID YOU HURT ICHIGO!" she screeched. The man was so surprised he dropped the knife and almost fell backwards.

"GET OFF ME YA CRAZY BITCH!" the man aimed a punch to the small girl on his back and landed one right on the side of her head. She yelped before getting thrown off onto the rock hard ground grabbed her throbbing head. She froze in fear once again. The man approached her slowly – his knife had been returned to his hand.

All of a sudden the large man gasped loudly and fell to the ground unconscious. Ichigo had his free hand up in a chopping position. He had hit the man in the back of the neck to knock him out.

"I-Ichigo!" Rukia stuttered out again.

He smiled through the pain clearly etched into his features. Then out of nowhere, he collapsed onto the cold ground still holding his large and deep wound that was gushing blood. "ICHIGO! NOO! DON'T DIE! PLEASE DON'T DIE ON ME!" Rukia screamed while rushing to his fallen side. She reached into his jacket pocket with shaking hands and pulled out his cell-phone to call 911.

Ichigo opened his eyes for a second looking at Rukia.

"Please help! It's an emergency m-my friend, w-we were, we w-were a-attacked! H-he's hurt an-and needs h-help!" Rukia stammered into the phone as the person on the other end asked her questions and as she gave their location. She closed the phone and glimpsed at the brave orange haired man whom she had let rest his head on her lap. She was a bit surprised to see his eyes open.

"R-Rukia…." Ichigo said quietly.

"Y-Yes Ichigo?" she said just as quiet through the tears streaming down her face.

"I-I'm glad y-your okay…." He said just before he slipped into blackness again.

"Ichigo? ICHIGO!" Rukia screamed as she could hear the ambulance approaching in the distance.

* * *

**A/N: CLIFFY! Well at least that's what I hoped it was… Is he dead/gonna die/survive? I don't know! You'll just have to wait for the next update which I PROMISE will be up sooner! Mostly because school is FINALLY out for Summer Vacation and I'll have TONS more time to write. Well go enjoy your freaking epic likes you little Gummy bears of DOOM! ~AF134**


	7. Chapter 7: Perfectly Normaly Behaviors

**A/N: Hey! It's me again! Please don't kill me people whom I told I would have this out by last Friday! I was soo busy and like I had writers block! I know it's really sort compared to my other chapters but for some reason I really like it… I'm considering doing a drawing on my fave scene in this chapter xDD Great wishes towards you guys loving it as much as I do!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or Ichigo or Rukia. I do own the pajamas I'm wearing, the lollipop in my mouth, and the hair on my head =3**

* * *

She sat in the hard chair of the dark and very cold emergency room wallowing in her loneliness and sadness. The room was empty – no sound or movement besides the rise and fall of her chest and the typing of the lady behind the desk.

The world had stopped moving around her as soon as Ichigo had closed his eyes. She could barely even remember getting to the hospital. There was a hole forming within her chest – every time it grew the pain became even more unbearable. Her eyes gazed ahead of her unseeing; her thoughts wandered to the memories of the extremely short two weeks she had been with Ichigo. Her heart ached as each memory came up.

As he heart ached, her mind stopped swimming through the memories. Instead she thought about why she was so worried about the man that was in the hospital. Her tears stopped, her breath hitched, and her heart skipped a beat, all at once. She had no idea what it was, but there was something about Ichigo that made her feel…at home. She belonged with Ichigo. '_Maybe just as friends…maybe more. Wait! What am I saying? I-I can't like him like that! I mean yes I owe him for saving my life…twice, but I shouldn't be feeling anything like that yet! I thought people who went through what I did would cower away from all men for years before getting used to even one!' _Her tears returned during her thoughts. The crystalline tears strolled down her face in small rivers as she thought more and more about if she had feelings for her Savior.

She came to a conclusion. _'I am a proud and strong Kuchiki. He saved me from my own personal Hell and he is now my best friend. That is why I am not afraid of him. I am afraid of losing him because he is my best friend, and because he's such a good person – he doesn't deserve to die so young!'_

Her thoughts left her in an uneasy sense of peace and worry. She was neither rejoicing nor breaking down – she was right in the middle.

Just then a nurse came towards the small raven haired woman sitting on the hard chairs of the chilling waiting room. "Miss?" the nurse said.

"Uh… Yes?" Rukia sniffled at the end of her sentence.

"I'm Mr. Kurosaki's nurse. The doctor told me to come and tell you that even though he lost a lot of blood, he should be fine – especially since the blood transfusion went through without any problems. His cut should heal normally and there is no threat to his life." The nurse smiled kindly.

Rukia let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and smiled a small relieved smile. "Th-Thank you for telling me."

"You are welcome Miss…?"

"Kuchiki. Kuchiki Rukia."

"Well, Miss Kuchiki, I must be on my way. There is no need to worry about him at the moment. Oh, and I almost forgot! Mr. Kurosaki should be able to go home tomorrow morning, so you can go home and come back tomorrow if you wish."

Rukia made a weird face before stopping the nurse. "Uhm…well I _would _go home, if I could. But I can't because firstly, I don't know how to get back from here; secondly, I don't even want to _think _about going somewhere outside at night _alone _in case something happens again; thirdly, I don't know where the car keys are nor do I know where the actual car is parked; and lastly, I don't really want to leave him here alone overnight." Rukia lowered her head in slight embarrassment at her last statement.

"Well then…" the nurse started a bit of annoyance in her voice, "If you will just follow me so you can stay in the room he is currently staying in so that you don't have to stay in that _horrid_ waiting room." She ended her sentence with a knowing smirk, even causing Rukia to let a small snicker escape her mouth.

"Here you go! If you want to you can lay on the other bed and sleep. We don't have many patients at the moment, so we have several other rooms we can use instead of this." She smiled sweetly and opened the door.

"Thank you!"

"You are welcome, again. Goodbye and goodnight Miss Kuchiki." And with that she was gone.

Rukia stepped into the dimly lit room and saw that there were two beds. On one of those beds was the man who had saved her…twice. His brows were furrowed in what she either believed to be pain or maybe even a bad dream. She walked to the side of his bed and saw that he had no shirt on and bandages wrapped tightly around his abdomen. Rukia could see his well chiseled chest even in the dim light of the hospital room. He was so strong and kind and even handsome – the personification of Adonis. Even in this state he was gorgeous.

She sighed sleepily before dragging herself around his bed to the unoccupied one closer to the window. She climbed onto the bed and got under the crisp sheets. She fell asleep instantly – the events of the day finally taking their toll.

* * *

Rukia awoke to the warmth of the sun on her face. She opened her violet eyes and gazed out the window which was flooding light into the room. Sitting up, Rukia let her eyes wander to the orange headed Strawberry in the bed next to hers. He was up and had on a shirt now.

Ichigo looked at Rukia and smiled from is seated position. "Morning Rukia." He said kindly.

"Ichigo! You're awake!" Rukia said loudly as she scrambled out of bed. She rushed over to his bed and hugged him awkwardly from the side. "Thank goodness you're okay! Does anything hurt?"

"Alright, alright! Calm down Rukia! I'm fine! Just a bit sore in my stomach." He returned the awkward hug with a light chuckle. "The doctor has me on pain meds at the moment so it doesn't hurt that much." He smiled and released her small form. "How about you, are you okay Rukia?"

"Y-Yeah I'm okay… I think…" her beautiful indigo eyes started to fill up with tears at the frightening memory.

Ichigo frowned. "Come here Rukia. It's ok now." He practically cooed as she made her way back into an awkward one sided hug from Ichigo.

Rukia crawled onto the hospital bed and sat next to Ichigo – his arm around her shoulders hugging her tight and her head resting on his shoulder as she cried.

"It's j-just th-that ….. it it ha-happened a-a-again! Someone t-touched me a-again!" she wailed into his warm shoulder. She scrunched herself into the fetal position and wrapped her arms around her now bent legs.

Ichigo looked at her with his sad amber eyes. Then, he gently rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes. "Ya' know if it wasn't for you reacting when and how you did, I probably wouldn't be here right now. So, I'd like to thank you Rukia, for saving me this time." He smiled a warmly.

Rukia's tears stopped at Ichigo's words. They had surprised her. "N-No. _I _should be tanking _you _for what you did! Not the other way around!"

"No, no. Thank you!" Ichigo smirked.

"No thank _you!" _Now Rukia was a bit annoyed.

"No, I believe, since you reacted after I was hurt, that I should be thanking you!" Ichigo was just playing with her; trying to improve her mood.

"Ichigo! Quit acting like a five-year-old!" Rukia let it slip out in a whine.

Ichigo laughed. "At least _I _don't whine like one!"

"Shut it, you immature, orange headed, gargantuan Strawberry!" She lifted her head off of Ichigo's shoulder and glared daggers at him.

Said immature, orange headed, gargantuan Strawberry let out a loud guffaw before looking at Rukia with a childish glint in his liquid amber eyes.

'_He did that on purpose!' _Rukia screamed in her head before she lowered her head in embarrassment once again. Her checks took on a cute rosy hue.

Just then there was a light knock on the wooden door.

Rukia jumped off the bed quickly.

"Come in!" she said.

The doctor walked in with a tired look on his face. When he saw the two young people in the room her let a small smile form on his lips. "Well I just came by to tell you that you could leave and that the police will contact you within the week to converse about what happened before you were brought here."

Ichigo stood up carefully – seeing if his wound hurt when he walked. It didn't. He slipped on his shoes that were put beside his bed; as did Rukia. They made their way down to the desk in the waiting room slowly. Ichigo signed a few papers and then he was discharged. And after all that, they went home.

* * *

**A/N: Here we go! Another Chappy posted and read! YAY! This story has now reached the mark of my highest amount of chapters for a story…Sorta? If you know what I mean? Lol Like the most chappys I have ever written. Chappy 8 shall be a new record! YESH! Well I'm tired cause it's 11:23 PM and I just pulled an all nighter earlier….today? Or should I say last night? Lol anyway please comment! ~AF134**


	8. Chapter 8: Voices of Despair

**A/N: Well I thought since it was Summer I'd be able to get more writing done….but guess who was wrong? I've been busier than EVER! My besties are moving back to England *cries in corner* and we've been spending as much time together as we can before that happens… ok well here's the long awaited chapter! **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ichigo, Rukia, or Frosted Flakes...well i DO have a box of them sitting in my kitchen cabinet but I think you know what I mean. And if you don't...your stupid (._.) Sorry...that was uncalled for... Oh yeah I also own these chocolate covered gummy bears 3 anyways...ENJOY! xDD**

* * *

A week. It had been one week since the incident. Ichigo had taken off work while his wound healed. The pain meds made him very sleepy. Rukia kept to herself most of the time – only coming out of her room to eat and go to the bathroom. Apparently she was still frightened from what had occurred. Thoughts raged mental wars inside her head telling her what she should do.

'_Just kill yourself. If this happens every time you go into the outside world than what's the point of living you bitch! Just do it!' _One of the many voices shouted in her head. It sounded awfully like Renji's horrid voice – even with the all too familiar slur from the alcohol.

'_No, Rukia! Don't listen to him. Put this all behind you and keep living! Get over this and live your life! You deserve it!' _This voice sounded like Ichigo. Her angel. He urged her to go on and be herself as she truly wished herself. But, the voices kept on tempting her to do different things.

'_Run away. Forget your past and everything else. Just run, run until your feet bleed! Start a new life! Forget everything and everyone!' _A tainted and evil voice that reflected her own echoed inside her mind. Rukia cringed at this voice. It was like her dark side.

'_Do what you want. There's nothing holding you back. Keep your friend, Ichigo, close and get past everything. It's the right choice, but you can do whatever you want. You are your own person. You decide what __**you **__yourself want.' _Tears sprung into Rukia's eyes. Her deceased sister's voice entered her mind. Hisana had spoken those words once – except for the Ichigo part. Rukia loved her sister dearly. She had died from some strange disease they were **still** trying to identify. She really needed her here right now to help her through this situation.

'_Keh, you stupid bitch! You can't do anything! You're worthless! You're just a fucking whore who is good for __**nothing!**__ Just listen to me ya bitch, and kill yourself! I know you can at __**least **__do that!' _Renji's voice once again entered her mind. Having enough of this war of thoughts, Rukia screamed. Tears fell like pouring rain down her ashen cheeks. She had finally…broken.

* * *

***5 MINUTES BEFORE***

***LIVING ROOM***

Ichigo had fallen asleep on the couch from the night before. His back was achy and his wound throbbed as he sat up to quickly – even though it was fairly well healed.

He groaned and opened his amber eyes. His orange spikes were wilder than ever yet still managed to make him look extremely handsome. He flicked on the TV. There was a news cast on. It was in the middle of the broadcast but he presumed he hadn't missed much.

"Earlier this week a man was assaulted on the streets by another man described as tall, with red spiky hair, and tattoos from his forehead to his chest. The victim stated that he was looking for someone named Rukia. The red haired man - now identified as Renji Abarai for his past interaction with the police – had beat the man until he was unconscious and left the scene. If anyone sees this man officials have asked that you call 911 immediately…" A picture of Renji appeared on the screen.

Ichigo's eyes were wide as saucers. **This **was the man, no beast, that had hurt Rukia. Ichigo's eyes went from surprised to anger filled in an instant.

'_That son of a bitch is looking for her. Why the hell would he do that? Honestly, I don't give a damn! He'll never lay a hand on Rukia again!' _anger filled Ichigo's mind as he shut of the TV and let a scowl set itself in his features. That was until he heard a scream come from Rukia's room.

Startled, Ichigo let the scowl drop from his face and a worried look replaced it as he rushed down the 'hall' to her room. He burst through the door.

"Rukia! Are you okay?" he said worriedly.

Rukia didn't reply she just lay there sobbing. Her eyes closed and her hands over her face while she lay in the fetal position.

"Rukia." A sweet and gentle tone entered his voice. A caring and loving one as well.

Ichigo sat on the bed and gently pulled away her hands from her face. "Rukia. Please open your eyes and stop crying. There's no need to cry." He took her smaller hands into his own.

Rukia stopped sobbing but let the tears keep on falling. She opened her eyes and look up at Ichigo's caring face. She was thankful that she had met him; thankful that he had been so nice; thankful that she could call him friend; thankful for everything he had done for her in the few short weeks she had known this sweet and spunky orange headed Strawberry.

He was saddened by the look in her once lively eyes. She looked broken. She had finally snapped.

Ichigo pulled her into a sitting position gently and then suddenly pulled her body closer to his. He wrapped his long and sinewy arms around her small and fragile body in a warm and caring hug. He held her as close as he could.

Rukia was stunned. She was **not **used to this kind of caring interaction, yet she loved it. She sat there frozen – her arms stuck by her sides and her eyes wide and staring at nothing over Ichigo's broad shoulder. After a few seconds she relaxed into the warm embrace and wrapped her own arms around Ichigo's torso. Her hands turned into little fists as she grabbed Ichigo's shirt right underneath both of his shoulder blades. She lowered her head to rest on his shoulder as she let even more liquid drops fall from her eyes.

"Th-Thank you, Ichigo." Rukia whispered as she unclenched her fists and released Ichigo's shirt. She moved her arms so that she could wrap them around the said Strawberry in a real embrace.

Ichigo smiled warmly; happy that he made Rukia feel better.

"You're welcome, Chibi." A playful smirk was now etched onto his features.

Rukia's eyebrow twitched slightly. "What's _**that **_supposed to mean, Gigantor?" Rukia smirked as well. Her eyes still red and puffy from crying no longer held a lifeless look – they were sparkling with smugness and joy. Playfulness also glinted within those beautiful violet orbs.

"It means that you have big eyes and a big head a little itty-bitty body, _Chibi."_

That had sparked something within Rukia. "I'll have you know, Berry boy, that I do **not **have a little body! But I **do **have a big head! And do you know why Mr. Strawberry-san?"

'_Smartass midget.' _Said Berry's thoughts weren't all too kind. His only response was to narrow his eyes. "Try me."

"Because I'm smarter than you!"

"No way, Midget. I know for a **fact **that I'm _way _smarter than any little Raven haired Chibi!"

"Yes way, Strawberry! _**I **_know for a fact that all the nutrients that are supposed to go to your brain to make you smart are sucked up by your hair to keep it the unnatural orange color!"

"You leave my hair out of this Midget! Orange is my natural hair color! If anything is unnatural it's your violet eyes!"

Now it was Rukia's turn to narrow her said Violet eyes. "Now you listen here carrot-top! My eyes are naturally purple and I for one am proud to have them since they are so different from everyone else!"

"Pretty too…" Ichigo muttered to himself unaware that because of their close proximity Rukia had heard him say it. Her cheeks flushed; but before Ichigo could notice Rukia decided to sneeze. A bewildered look on her face.

Ichigo started to laugh at the look on her face. Her little nose was scrunched up and her eyes looked all confused. Her cheeks were flushed – although Ichigo thought it was from the sneeze when it was really from what he had said.

"Wh-What are you laughing at?" Rukia said in a timid voice.

"That…That look…" he paused as he laughed even more, "On your….your face! It made you…look all…all cute! Like a…like a real Chibi!" He guffawed as her face turned an even darker hue of red.

"Oh shut it ya orange haired idiot." She mumbled. He didn't stop laughing. Rukia's eyebrow twitched again.

Then, as if they were in a cartoon, Rukia pulled out her fist and punched Ichigo right in the stomach – knocking him right off the bed.

"Ooff!" Was all he said.

Now it was Rukia's turn to laugh at the ridiculous look on _his _face.

And with that they went on bickering for almost another whole hour.

* * *

"Yo, Rukia!"

"Yes, Kurosaki-kun." Rukia replied in an annoying school girl tone from her spot at the kitchen table. She was munching on a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

Ichigo scowled. "Don't call me that… It reminds me of this one girl I dated once. Really annoying, kinda ditzy too." A disturbed expression on his face. Quite a comical look it was.

Rukia giggled. "Fine, fine, I won't." She paused. "So, what did you want?"

"I was just gonna tell you that I needed to head off to the store to buy some groceries. Were kinda low on stock if you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, okay." Rukia sounded a bit nervous; and Ichigo had no idea why.

"Something wrong Rukes?"

"No, nothing. Just… Just be careful, okay?"

Ichigo smiled warmly in understanding. "Keh, don't worry, I'll be fine. Just don't burn the house down while I'm gone."

"What house? All _I _see is a little apartment."

"You know what I me- Hey! It's not little! You should know that I have to pay a lot of money to keep this pla-" Rukia stood up and approached Ichigo.

"Good-_byyye _Berry boy!" Rukia said as she pushed him out the door.

"Hey! What's the deal midge-" and with that Rukia slammed the door in his face. She could her him muttering profanities as he walked down the stairs to his car. She chuckled before she decided to watch some old Chappy reruns.

* * *

One hour, 34 minutes, and 11 seconds later Ichigo walked back into his apartment only to find Rukia, curled up in a loose fetal position on the couch, sleeping. He smiled lightly as he put away the groceries.

'_She looks so calm when she's sleeping. As if nothing could faze her.' _Ichigo thought sweetly.

Meanwhile – within her mind – Rukia was having a dream. And a fairly unpleasant one at that – the calm look on her features, deceiving.

* * *

"_Ruuuukia-chaaaaan!" an eerie voice moaned in her mind. "Ruuuukiaaaa-chaaan! Where are you?"_

_Rukia was sweating bullets as she stayed hidden within the shadows trying to get away from that damned voice._

"_Rukia! Hey, Rukia! Where are you, Chibs?" he was walking through the darkness with a worried expression on his face._

'_I-Ichigo? What is he doing here?' Rukia thought as fear enveloped her._

"_ICHIGO! Get out of here, NOW! Run before he finds yo-_" _she stood up as she said this only to stop talking at the sight before her eyes._

_Ichigo lay there on the ground in a pool of crimson blood. His dead and dull eyes facing her. A hollow scream echoed within the darkness. "ICHIGO!" She glared angrily around the darkness with tears falling down her face._

"_Renji, you bastard!" she sobbed. "Why? WHY? Why him? WHY ICHIGO?" she sobbed uncontrollably as she collapsed on her knees in front of Ichigo's body. Her head fell onto his chest as she cried – her hands lay directly beside her head on either side grasping his bloodied t-shirt._

_As she lay there she could hear the haunting laughter that she knew all too well. Then, suddenly, she gasped and started choking and coughing up blood. She looked down to see that hellish dagger protruding from her stomach. She turned around with wide – and lifeless – violet eyes. Renji's evil smirking face loomed right behind her shoulder._

"_This is what ya get for running away ya BITCH!" He screamed._

_Rukia, having lost so much blood, finally dropped entirely back down onto Ichigo's now cold chest. Her eyes were wide as well as lifeless. Renji's twisted laughter echoed through Rukia's mind as she took her last breath. 'Ichi…go…'_

* * *

Rukia awoke with a gasp. Her eyes wider than usual. She looked around the room frantically; settling when her eyes landed on Ichigo who was gazing at her with an odd look.

"You okay Rukia?"

"Y-Yeah. Fine." She looked down at her lap from her seated position – a solemn look infecting her once peaceful features. She stood up and went to the kitchen grabbing a juice box from the fridge and heading into 'her' room.

Ichigo glanced at her warily as she passed by and entered 'her' room. "If you say so.." he muttered. His eyes glazed over as he zoned out thinking about what could possibly be bothering her now.

* * *

**A/N: Please don't kill me! I know this chapter was kinda short (again) and sucky (again) but at least there IS a chappy! So like even though I don't really like this chappy (except for the beginning) please leave a review! It might even make me happier which will trigger this weird gland in my head that'll make me immune to writers block therefore granting me the ability to update faster! xDD Anyways thanks for reading! GO FORTH MY GUMMY BEARS OF DOOM!~AF134**


	9. Chapter 9: 'Thank You' Prank

**Hi Guys!**

***dodges the flying objects***

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever! I knew that I told you that I would probably post more because of my summer, but this Summer I was SO busy. I had to watch my little sister, we went on INTERNET-LESS trips, and I also found out that my best friends of ALL TIME are moving to England. Whoopty-Fucking-Doo! Yeah so I spent every waking moment I could with those guys. I'm gonna miss them so much!**

**Gah, well anyways, ON WITH THE STORY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Bleach or Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, or any other characters I decide to use in this story, but you guys probably know that by now :3**

* * *

Rukia stood in front of the window in her room. It was overlooking the small little town of Karakura. The same town that her worst nightmare lived.

She sighed before sitting down on her queen sized bed thinking about the strange dream she had had yesterday. Her mind had been working all day and night to figure out why she had such a disturbing dream – and why it had affected her so much. To see Ichigo cold and lifeless at her feet sent chills down her spine. Was her mind so fucked up that she couldn't have a sweet dream with a happy ending?

Sighing once again, she lay down and closed her eyes; worn out from being up all night. She was a bit fearful to sleep, especially because Ichigo wasn't around to wake her up if she had another nightmare. He was at work once again, even though, she fell asleep.

* * *

Ichigo had seen all of the patients scheduled today. It was a slow day with only seven patients – four being regular checkups and three being for a cold or pink eye.

He was cleaning up some of the papers in his small office when he heard someone walking down the hallway. He turned to look out his door only to see his sister, Yuzu, looking at him with a smile on her face.

"Hey Yuzu, do you need something?" He smiled at his younger sibling. She had decided to become a nurse at the small Kurosaki Clinic until she graduated college and found a full time job.

"Not really. Just came to say goodnight to my favorite brother." Her smile seemed to get even happier. Such a sweet girl.

Ichigo smiled again. "Alright, goodnight Yuzu."

"Goodnight Ichigo! Have a safe ride home!" she came over and hugged him quickly before scurrying out.

Ichigo chuckled before shedding his doctors coat and heading out the door. He walked out into his car and drove home.

* * *

_Orange. Orange was the color of the bright sunset she saw before her while she sat on the soft green grass. Yellow, orange, and purple hues covered the sky in a beautiful watercolor arrangement. She smiled. This was peaceful. This was how she should feel every day. She deserved it for what she had been through. She sighed and leaned back from her seated position and encountered a large warm wall. She spun her head around to see warm liquid amber eyes looking deep within her violet eyes. He had a sweet smile on his face – she mirrored his smile with her own. _

'_Ichigo.' She whispered._

'_Rukia.' He whispered right back with such a tender and loving voice that Rukia practically melted into him._

_She turned around completely and sat in his lap; stroking his soft orange hair. He had his long sinewy, and strong, arms wrapped around her small frame in a protective way – as though he wouldn't let anything or _anyone _hurt _his _Rukia. She was so happy and at peace she nearly burst into tears._

_This was her Heaven._

* * *

Ichigo walked through his apartment with a pleasant look on his face. He was happy, which was very rare for a man such as him. Ever since his mother had died when he was nine he always blamed himself for her death. He always had a scowl plastered on his features. Well, before he met Rukia that is. Ichigo walked down to his bedroom and changed out of his work clothes. He made his way out of his room and noticed that Rukia's door was closed.

Being curious, he slowly opened the door without guilt. After all, it was _his _apartment.

Inside, on the bed, lay the small sleeping form of Rukia. She was curled up on her sides and had her arms bent in front of her. A small smile graced her pink lips. Ichigo couldn't resist the urge to smile as well. He _loved _seeing this girl – no woman – smile.

He had no idea why, but Ichigo walked forward and crouched down next to the bed. He put his right hand on the cheek not plastered to the pillow. His thumb rubbed her soft cheek gently. He gazed at her peaceful face with half lidded amber eyes. Ichigo leaned forward and kissed her forehead before standing up and exiting her room.

Little did he know that his actions did not go unnoticed.

* * *

Rukia lay groggily in her bed. She heard Ichigo come into the apartment and walk past her door. She heard him rustling around in his closet for more comfortable clothes.

Ever since she had woken up there had been a small smile on her face. She was still a bit too groggy to open her eyes yet though.

She was then a bit surprised when she heard Ichigo open her door. She could hear his calm breathing.

Rukia was taken aback when she heard him walk over and crouched down next to her bed. She felt his hand as he cupped her cheek. His thumb stroked her skin.

'_That feels nice.' _She thought in a bit of a daze.

The kiss he placed with his soft lips on her forehead got her out of the daze. She was surprised for sure, but for some reason she felt so…so… Ichigo had gotten up and left Rukia opened her mauve eyes. She was giddy and smiling with a wide grin – looking nothing like the broken girl yesterday.

Then she realized, she hadn't _snapped _yesterday. She had made her breakthrough. She was recovering. She was starting to get over this hellish past of hers.

She smiled even wider as she lay back down and daydreamed.

* * *

Ichigo lounged about on his couch – his legs so long that his feet dangled off the other side of the soft seat. His right arm was behind his head while his left was draped over a pillow that lay on his well toned abdomen.

He was lazily gazing at the TV. He didn't _**dare **_turn on the news in fear Rukia might walk out when something about Renji came on. Instead, he was watching some anime about a freaky kid who believes he's god because he can write in some notebook and kill whoever he wanted. Honestly he hates this kid and _really _hopes that the emo detective guy who's addicted to sweets to find out that _he _was the killer.

* * *

Rukia slowly creaked open her door and looked at Ichigo. He was sitting there, looking bored. She giggled quietly at how his feet dangled off the far end of the couch. He was so _tall. _She walked silently into the kitchen – so silently that Ichigo hadn't even noticed her. The little midget ever so quietly searched through the cabinets trying to find what she wanted. Not finding it she opened the fridge extremely slow so as not to alert the orange haired man on the couch. She found what she was looking for a shut the fridge quietly once more.

Tip-toeing ever so softly behind the couch, Rukia crouched down and waited a few seconds. Then…

"RAAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRR!" Rukia screamed as she jumped up and sprayed him with whipped cream.

"Aaah!" Ichigo shouted as he flailed around and put his arms up trying to block his face from Rukia's whipped cream assault. He ended up falling off the couch.

Rukia fell to the floor holding her stomach and gasping as she laughed. Her cheeks hurt from laughing so much. Ichigo sat there, on the floor, whipped cream _all _over his face, hair, and shirt with the most dumbfounded look she had ever seen. He looked so funny! Rukia couldn't stop the laughter erupting from her mouth.

Needless to say, Ichigo was pissed. But, as to seeing that his little chibi with the purple eyes had rosy pink cheeks, a smile, and laughter coming from her mouth… he let it slide. She looked so _cute._

'_Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it there buddy! You are _not _supposed to think of her as cute! You should be angry at her for that! I mean come _on! _She just sprayed whipped cream all over you!' _Ichigo shook his head and ignored his thoughts.

Even Ichigo's thoughts couldn't stop the goofy smile that spread across his face. He noticed that Rukia had toned her laughter down to giggles and that there were tears in her eyes. Tears of joy.

Ichigo thought that those are the _only _tears that should be coming out of her eyes. From his spot on the floor he crawled over to Rukia. He grabbed her up – as she gasped – and hugged her back to his chest.

Her cheeks were flushed to the utmost extent; while her eyes were wide as saucers. He lay back on the ground, still hugging Rukia from behind, and opened his mouth to speak.

"You know, that prank you just pulled got me pretty angry at first."

Rukia lowered her eyes in guilt. She hadn't _meant _to anger him.

"But."

Rukia's eyes opened a little more and she turned her head up looking at Ichigo from an upside down diagonal angle. **(I don't know how to describe this exactly but she's still lying down.)**

"I couldn't yell or be angry at you with that smile on your face and that extremely rare laughter coming from you. You looked so _happy _then."

She smiled as wide as she could and let out a little giggle.

"Seriously, though, you're living up to my little nickname for ya, Chibi! When you were laughing like that you were as cute as a little anime chibi!"

Now it was Ichigo's turn to start guffawing. Rukia's eyebrow twitched as she grabbed the pillow that fell off the couch with Ichigo… aaand started to beat him with it.

She stood up in all her midget glory and began pounding him into the carpeted floor with a pillow that probably weighed more than she did.

"I," **smack**, "am not," **smack**, "a CHIBI!" And with that she hit him with an endless barrage of pillow pounding.

"Hey!" **smack!** "Stop it!" **smack!** "Ow!" **smack!** "That hur-" Ichigo was cut off with a pillow to the face.

"Oi!" Ichigo grabbed the pillow from the devious little midget. He grabbed her and pulled her down lying on top of his chest. "I said that _hurts._"

Rukia's face was dumbstruck. He had pulled her so suddenly and then she as on top of him. Honestly she should have been _**very **_uncomfortable. But for the strangest reason she wasn't. Instead she flushed an even darker shade of red as she snuggled her head into his chest. He was so _warm._

Ichigo's eyes went wide and his cheeks flushed. Being the thick headed barbarian he was **(I love my Ichigo but truly that's prolly what he's really like) **he hadn't realized there compromising position.

Rukia was lying _right _on top of him, his arms wrapped around her, her head snuggled into his chest, and her hands grasping his shirt lightly in her tiny fists. He was looking down at her with his burning amber eyes and smiling. He pulled her up so that his nose was buried in her hair as he hugged her closer. She smelled like lavender and vanilla. Such an intoxicating scent. Rukia looked up at him with her mauve pools and smiled softly.

"You know there's still whipped cream in your hair right?" there was a tiny smirk on her pink lips.

Ichigo went red and used one of his hands to ruffle his hair while Rukia chuckled.

"Of course I knew that." He was _so _lying.

"Of course you did Berry, of course you did."

She surprised him by kissing his neck and getting up. She walked into the kitchen, grabbed the half empty carton of strawberries out of the fridge and walked back into her room giggling. All while Ichigo lay there, on the ground, with the most idiotic look on his face.

Ichigo got up, not even bothering to get something to eat for dinner and went to bed with a smile in his face. Who cared that it was only 7:45! He was happy and he sure as hell was gonna have a good night's sleep.

* * *

**A/N: TAA-DAA! I finally finished a new chappy for you guys! YOU SHOULD BE THANKFUL THAT I OVEROWRKED MY BRAIN ENOUGH TO CAUSE A SPLITTING HEADACHE THAT MADE ME GO TO BED AT 6:07 PM AND NOT WAKE UP UNTIL 6:34 AM THE NEXT DAY! Seriously though, that happened. Although I think it was more from these metal contraptions of PAIN on my teeth. YEP I got braces. And BOY do these bitches HURT! Review please! It will make my mouth feel better! GO ON AND REVIEW MY LITTLE GUMMY BEARS OF DOOM! ~AF134**


	10. Chapter 10: Happy Hurt Comfort

**Hey! Guess who finally decided to show her face again! :D**

**BAKUDO NUMBER 81: DANKU!**

***sits behind kido spell and gapes at all of the pointed and flaming projectiles***

***sweat drops***

**Uhh…s-sorry guys ^_^; Well at least you know this story isn't dead right? I'm sticking with this story until I finish. No need to ever think this will go dead – even if it takes me months to update. Believe it or not I have a life (not exactly the greatest of lives but still it exists)**

**Okay, so it's official my Besties of All time are gone and living in England with weird and complicated schools, unbearably cold weather, and a very loud village. I 3 them so much and I really miss them.**

**Wow very long opening A/N here xD Anyways I know you guys are probably bored or annoyed about how Rukia hasn't been outside or anything in awhile, but I promise something good is gonna happen real soon! **

**Rukia: I sure as hell know **_**I'm **_**sick of this tiny apartment.**

**Ichigo: Oi! It's not tiny! It's really big!**

**Rukia: *smirks* Are you **_**sure **_**we're still talking about your apartment here?**

**Ichigo: *blushes* Sh-Shut-up!**

**Rukia: Ahahahaaaaa! :D**

**AF134: …Okay…why haven't you guys spoken to me yet? This is the first I've heard from you!**

**Ichigo and Rukia: …**

**Me: Of course... look I'm sorry for what i'm doing to you guys! but something good will come out of this...in due time... Anywho **

**Rukia isn't leaving the apartment in **_**this **_**chapter but she will very soon. In this chappy another couple of well known Bleach characters shall be introduced! I would like to apologiz for any typos! i completely rely on MS Word to check for them! Now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER! (longest opening A/N so far xDD)**

* * *

"_Cam yuu paff fa mifk?"_

"Could you please repeat that with an empty mouth, Midget?"

Said midget glared at the gargantuan Strawberry while she swallowed the food in her mouth.

"I _said, _'Can you pass the milk?'"

"What's the magic word?" Ichigo smirked at Rukia's obvious annoyance.

"_Please, Strawberry-sempai!"_

Now it was Rukia's turn to smirk as a vein popped on Ichigo's head. He let out a breath and regained his composure.

"Actually the word was _Chibi_, but that works to." His smirk slid right back into place on his face.

Rukia also let a small smirk settle onto her face as she poured the milk into her glass. She then added lots of strawberry syrup and stirred it with a shiny metal spoon.

It was around noon and Ichigo and Rukia were sitting at the tiny kitchen table eating lunch.

A sudden noise erupted from the coffee table in the living room. Rukia looked toward it quizzically while Ichigo gave it an annoyed look.

_Back off I'll take you on!_

_Headstrong I'll take on anyone!_

_I know that you are wrong!_

_Headstrong, we're Headstrong!_

"Ichigo, what's that noise?"

He sighed and looked away before answering. "It's just my phone. Probably just Keigo trying to set me up on some double date with him. You'd think he'd get the hint that I'm not looking to be in a relationship."

Ichigo turned his head back to find Rukia missing from her chair. He looked into the living room where the music had stopped playing. Amber eyes widened drastically.

"Hello?"

'_IIIIIIIIICHIIIIIIII- wait… You don't sound like Ichigo! You don't even sound like a guy! Are you Ichigo's girlfriend? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A GIRLFRIEND?'_

At this point Rukia was holding the phone as far away from her ear as possible and was cringing at how loud this guy was. Ichigo bolted from his chair and grabbed the phone.

"Oi! Keigo! Shut-up! She's not my girlfriend! She's just staying here until she can find her own place!"

'_SO SHE'S LIVING WITH YOU TOO? I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE IN SUCH A SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP! Why didn't you tell me? IIIIIIIICHIIIIII-' _Ichigo snapped the phone shut the phone; an annoyed scowl on his face.

"Please, don't ever answer my phone again." Rukia only nodded for she was still a bit dazed by the loudness of Ichigo's friend Keigo.

Just as they were both about to sit down to finish their lunch, his home phone went off.

Rukia looked at Ichigo and Ichigo looked right back.

"Just let it ring. It's probably Keigo complaining about how I hung up on him.

'_Hey! Berry-boy! I know you're home. Your car is sitting down here and I can see a light on in your apartment. Answer the damn phone!' _This voice definitely did not belong to Keigo, but to an agitated girl. Ichigo ran over to the phone so fast all Rukia saw was a blur.

"Sorry. I thought it was Keigo calling again." There was a pause as the person on the other line spoke.

"Yeah, sure, you can come up." Rukia's eyes widened a little.

_Who was this person and why was Ichigo letting them into his apartment?_

Ichigo hung up the phone and turned back to Rukia who immediately started questioning him.

"Who was that Ichigo? Are they coming upstairs? Why did you let this person come up here? What if-"

Rukia was cut off by a hand over her mouth.

"That was just my friend Tatsuki. She was just on her way home from her job and thought she would stop by to talk. I've known her since I was really little so she won't do anything that could possibly harm you." His small smile of encouragement made Rukia relax.

Ichigo removed his hand from her mouth just as the sound of a door opening reached their ears.

"Hey Ichigo. How've you be- Who's that?" Tatsuki gaped at Rukia while Rukia gaped at Tatsuki.

Rukia took in Tatsuki's appearance – a black sports bra, deep red baggy shorts, and a pair of white sneakers. Around her neck was a towel. Her hair was short, black, and extremely spiky.

"This is… uh… this is Rukia."

"What is she, your girlfriend?"

"**NO!**" Ichigo and Rukia shouted in unison.

"Sorry, no need to get all defensive!"

Ichigo's signature scowl returned to his face. He looked at Rukia only to look at her disbelievingly. She was smiling in an _extremely _happy way. Too happy to be considered normal. And her eyes were squinted shut just from the sheer force of the smile. Ichigo deadpanned as he realized she was putting up a ruse to hide the truth; in his eyes though, she was failing - _miserably._

"Well… uh… hello Rukia, I'm Tatsuki Arisawa – long time friend of Ichigo. I don't mean to appear nosy, but why exactly are you here – in Ichigo's apartment – if you aren't his girlfriend?"

"I just recently got myself out of rough time in my life and I needed a place to stay. Ichigo was the only decent looking person I could find that could help me find some place to live. He was very kind and offered to let me live here until I could get back up on my feet and out into the world!" Rukia said in an overly chipper voice. Ichigo sweat-dropped and Tatsuki just smiled at her.

"Well that was very nice and unlikely thing for Ichigo to do. He never lets anyone into his apartment unless it's me, Sado, or Ishida."

Rukia let a confused look pierce her happy façade. "Uhm, who are Sado and Ishida?"

"Sado – or as I like to call him, Chad – and Uryuu Ishida are also really good friends of mine."

"Huh, Ichigo has _friends?_" Rukia gasped into sarcastic disbelief.

A vein popped on Ichigo's head yet again. "Yes, Midget, as a matter of fact I do. Also, you're one to talk! I'm pretty sure I'm the only friend you've got!"

Rukia's eyes flashed hurt for just a second – just long enough for Ichigo to see – but then turned angry.

"I'll have you know, _Strawberry,_ that because of the _events _that had been happening for the past year I couldn't contact _any _of my friends. All of them probably just assumed that I had forgotten about them! **I was all **_**alone **_**for the past **_**year **_**because of **_**him, **_**so don't even START to insult me about friendship!**" Tears pooled in Rukia's mauve pools before she stormed off into her room and slammed the door shut. A resounding slam and then silence.

"Uhm… well this is awkward. I think I should be going now. You should probably settle this little quarrel on your own. Bye Ichigo!" Tatsuki smiled nervously and waved as she walked out of the apartment.

Meanwhile, Ichigo had put both his hands over his face in a way that lifted his orange bangs from his forehead. He walked over to the nearest wall and rested his head against it with his hands at his side.

"I… am such… a _**DUMBASS!**_" With the last word he slammed his fist hard against the wall making a small dent in the process – any harder and a hole would have been made.

'_I just made _Rukia _cry. I am such an __**ass!**__ Even after I __**promised **__I would never hurt here I go and insult her about something she couldn't have stopped!'_

* * *

Sitting in the middle of her bed with her knees pulled to her chest while her chin rested atop, Rukia let silent tears make trails down her pale cheeks. She knew that Ichigo probably didn't mean to insult her with what he said but it doesn't erase the fact that it did in fact _hurt._

Rukia rubbed away her tears with her right arm and lay down on the bed. Her eyes closed and she just lay there thinking of nothing – her mind totally empty of all thought. That was, until, a subtle knock came from her door.

"You can come in Berry." Rukia said quietly.

Ichigo slowly walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. He sat with his legs apart while his elbows rested on his knees and his hands dangle between. His slouched form and lowered head were signs of guilt.

"Look, Rukia, I'm about what I said. I just lost my temper. I didn't really mean to hurt you." He looked up with eyes _pleading _for forgiveness. All Rukia could do was put a small sad smile on her face.

"I _know _you didn't mean to insult me, but it didn't stop the face that it still hurt. I haven't seen my friends in forever, Ichigo, and I miss them very much. S-so I can't help but to cry about it." With that she burst into tears again. "I-I just miss them so much! Did you know they warned me not to go out with Renji and then later on told me they heard some stuff going around? They told me to break up with him before s-something ha-happened, but I didn't listen! **I didn't listen and because of that **_**THAT**_** happened!**" While she was letting off some steam, Ichigo had hugged her tightly to his chest. She buried her head into his chest as she sobbed; her hands making tiny fists as they grabbed his shirt tightly.

"I-I just d-don't know why I didn't listen t-to them!" At her last statement, Ichigo tightened his grip around her small shaking form.

"Oi," he said gently, "There's no need to get so angry at yourself. Sadly, what's done is done, and no one can change that. I'm here for you, and I promise that I _will _help you get through this. Hey, I may even be able to contact these friends of yours." His warm hands rubbed her back, she started to sniffle, and she unclenched her fists from his shirt. Her thin arms wrapped around his slender torso and she hugged him back tightly.

"Th-thank you Ichigo. I have no idea how you put up with someone like me, but I really appreciate it." Rukia pulled herself away just enough to see his face and smiled brightly. Ichigo returned her smile with one of his own – a used to be very rare occurrence. Ever since Rukia had come, he had been smiling much more than he ever had since his mother's death.

"How about we go out some-''

"NO!" Rukia tensed up as she shouted. "I-I'm not ready to go outside yet."

"That's fine, I understand. How about we just order something in and then we watch – and I cannot believe I'm saying this – the Chappy movie. Rukia's eyes instantly sparkled with childish delight.

"Yes! Yes! Oh Yes! Thank you Ichigo! I would love that!" She was laughing and shouting in sweet, childish joy as she gave him a hug tight enough to actually cease breathing. Before he could complain though, she let go and ran out of the room saying something about having to find the Chappy slippers she left somewhere. Ichigo laughed quietly, stood up, and walked out of the room only to find Rukia running around again trying to find her other Chappy items. She came to a screeching stop in front of Ichigo.

"Do you know where all the Chappy stuff you bought for me is?" Ichigo recalled _that _day, and then where he put all of their police-recovered items.

"Yeah, they're in my closet."

"Yay! Thank you!" And with that, Rukia scurried off again on her Chappy rampage. Ichigo chuckled with a sweet smile on his face. Walking into the kitchen and picking up the phone to call for some takeout.

* * *

After dinner, both young adults settled themselves close together on the couch. Ichigo's arm lay on the back of the couch behind Rukia's head. His feet were propped up on the coffee table and his left arm lay on the pillow situated in his lap. Rukia sat with her legs crossed and had her arms tightly wrapped around her fluffy Chappy stuffed animal.

The movie began, went through the story, and ended, and by that time both Ichigo and Rukia had fallen asleep.

During their sleep, they both seemed to have moved. Rukia's head rested on Ichigo's shoulder and his head on top of hers. Ichigo's arm had fallen off the back of the couch to wrap around her. At some point Rukia had actually _let go _of her chappy stuffed animal and wrapped her arms gently around Ichigo. Her legs were no longer crossed, but were instead sprawled out a bit towards the open end of the couch. If either would have awakened, they would be extremely flustered, but too kind hearted to even think of moving – in case of the waking of the other. But, neither woke, and they slept through the night with small smiles on their lips as the Chappy stuffy sat on the ground, forgotten.

* * *

**A/N: Sooooooooooooooo… what did my avid readers think? Did you like it? Did you hate it because my story seems repetitive? Are you just pissed off because you wanted Rukia to finally get out and do something? Tell me in your reviews please!**

**Okay so I worked my butt off for 2 days writing and rewriting this lil bastard. And I must say I'm very disappointed in myself. I only got about 24oo words out of all my hard work :[ Well at least I got something.**

**Also, most of you probably know about my other story "**_**To Hell and Back" **_**I am sad to say that this story is on a hiatus for the time being. And it probably will be for awhile. I have so much shit to do for school (actually I'm supposed to be doing HW right now but I thought 'screw it') Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed it! Thank you for all of my reviewers and those who faved and added this to their 'follow' stuff! xDD**

**Just to let the Records Show: I do NOT own Bleach, Rukia, Ichigo, Renji, Tatsuki, Keigo, Chad, Uryuu, Chappy, or any other Bleach related subjects. Those rightfully belong to Tite Kubo. I do NOT own "**_**Headstrong" **_**for it is By: Trapt. I also don't own any other shit that is obviously owned by someone else. Although I do own this laptop, my shirt, this container thingy of oreos, this FanFiction account, and this pair of nerd glasses I am wearing at this very moment.**

**Thank You! Go and wreak havoc on the world my little gummy bears of DOOM! :D**


	11. Chapter 11: A Bleached Gathering

Hey! Look! I updated faster this time! :D Mostly because I received a review telling me that my story was running a bit slow and quite frankly I agreed.

So thank you VERY VERY much** totaleclipse84 **for getting me to update sooner! :D

* * *

**Okay so I'm very extremely thankful to the following people who added this story to their favorites or those who are following this story:**

_**jooboi1594**_

_**~Bleach ichiruki**_

_**~AdilaRain**_

_**~DarkSwrdz**_

_**~Anyone not mentioned on this list that is following my story THANK YOU SO MUCH! I 3 You! Stuff like this really motivates us authors 3**_

**And of course all of the Reviewers…. *hugs the fluff outta them* I LUFF CHU GUYS! *gives you tons of Chappy Dolls, Bleach merch, and tons of Jolly Ranchers* THANK YOU SO PUGGING MUCH! xD**

**I HAVE MADE CHANGES TO PREVIOUS CHAPTERS: I really wanted Rangiku to be in this chapter so I went back and got rid of her from Rukia's past. So that's why she suddenly reappeared without Rukia recognizing her. Sorry if you don't like this!**

**Okay so this chapter I'm going to introduce more Bleach characters and RUKIA SHALL FINALLY LEAVE TH HOUSE AGAIN! She'll be really shy and kind of OOC (wait…this entire story is OOC soo…anywho!) Yerp… well I hope this turns out okay and I hope you guys like this chappy! I 3 Yuu AGAIN! :3**

* * *

"Oi, time to wake up sleeping beauty." There was a nudge and a small shake.

"Mmmmmph….." A tired grumble came from face lodged into the pillow.

"Come on Rukia, it' time to get up." A sudden poke in the ribs caused Rukia to squirm under her fluffy blanket.

"I don't wanna get up… It's too early…"

"Rukia, it's 11 am."

"So? It's not like we're going anywhere, Ichigo." Rukia sat up and rubbed her tired eyes. A small yawn escaping her lips.

"Actually, I was kind of hoping we would go out somewhere. A bunch of my friends just called." Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck and diverted his gaze to some 'amusing' spot on the wall. "Keigo told them all about you; same with Tatsuki. They really want to meet you. Also, there's this girl there that I used to date and…." Ichigo grumbled out the rest of the sentence.

"Huh? What'd you say? I didn't catch that?" Needless to say Rukia was curious about what he had been too embarrassed to say.

A slight blush colored his tanned cheeks. "…And I was hoping you would come and somehow keep her away from me? I mean I guess if she sees your hanging around me that she'll leave me alone."

Rukia blinked a few times and then giggled. "Yeah sure. Sounds easy enough."

"Thanks Ruki." A small smile played on his lips.

"Any time Ichi." She smiled as well.

"Alright, so you need to wash up and get dressed while I make us some lunch before we leave, alright?"

Rukia raised her hand to forehead and did a quick salute and said in a jokingly sweet voice, "Sir, yes, Sir!"

Ichigo chuckled as she marched to her closest, grabbed her clothes, and hurried to the shower.

* * *

Rukia hesitated at the exit to the apartment building wavering between taking a step outside or bolting in the other direction.

'_Every time I go out, it seems something horrible happens.'_

"Oi! Hello? Anyone in there?" Ichigo waved a hand in front of her face. She blinked a few times in confusion before she realized Ichigo was talking to her.

"S-sorry. Just got lost in thought." A flash of sadness entered her eyes but then disappeared without a trace.

"Rukia," he said lightly, "nothing bad is going to happen. We're just going to meet my friends, hang out there for a bit, and then we're coming back home. Promise me you won't worry alright? If something _were _to happen though, you know I'd protect you. No matter **what**." He smiled heartwarmingly down at his shorter counterpart.

A more assured Rukia smiled happily, "Okay, Mr. Protector, I promise I won't worry!"

"Perfect, now let's go. They're probably wondering where we are." Ichigo opened the door and pulled Rukia out gently by her hand and led her to the car.

* * *

A short ride of 10 minutes to the park where they were meeting was one of silence. Not uncomfortable silence but a peaceful more enjoyable one. Both passengers in the car could see a group of lively people huddled under a tree right in the middle of the park.

"There they ar-." A loud smack could be heard from the group. "Same as ever…" Ichigo breathed out carelessly. Rukia was just confused.

"Hey! Look! It's Ichigo!" Tatsuki shouted. Everyone in the group stared. Rukia hid behind Ichigo's large form – completely unseen by the group since she was _much _shorter than he.

A brown haired man came rushing towards them screaming his arse off.

"IIICHIIIGOOOO-PPH" A punch to the mouth stopped the man from crashing into Ichigo.

"OOOOOWWW! That wasn't necessary!" The man howled in pain on the ground.

"Shut it Keigo, you deserved it." A very disgruntled Ichigo stated. Rukia giggled and let her presence be known.

Keigo peeked behind Ichigo to see the short black haired, purpled eyed beauty. He jumped up and rushed around and got close' _too close._ Rukia stared at him with wide slightly frightened eyes.

"SHE'S SO HOT! ICHIGO! WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME SHE WAS SO GOOD LOOKING?" Keigo then pushed it even farther by quickly taking Rukia into a hug where she very nearly lost it. She looked at Ichigo with wide pleading eyes. She was not comfortable and was quite honestly scared of Keigo.

"Oi! Get off of her!" Ichigo shoved Keigo onto the ground. Rukia calmed down and returned to her spot behind Ichigo. She clutched the back of his shirt in her tiny fists and peeked her head out to look at this _Keigo _person that very nearly scared her to death.

"Jeesh, what's your problem man? I was just hugging her…" Keigo mumbled as he walked back over to the group of friends who had just been watching the entire display.

Ichigo looked at Rukia for _some _permission. He wasn't – nor was she – ready to tell his friends the whole truth but just enough to make them realize their predicament. Rukia nodded and went back to looking at Ichigo's strange group of friends.

"Okay, for starters, this is my… my good friend Rukia Kuchiki. She was kind of in a _really _tight spot and needed some help with her life. She's not in the best of conditions and is _extremely _shy. So like, could you keep personal space a top priority while we're here?" His friends just looked at him and nodded.

During her Strawberry's explanation, Rukia had taken in the groups' appearances.

She already knew Tatsuki and Keigo but the others were strangers.

An average height woman with long orange hair and flower hairpins stood next to Tatsuki, a wide smile on her face. She had large grey eyes and a very gifted chest. She seemed to be staring into space with a dazed look in her eyes. Behind her stood a taller, skinny man with semi-long black hair down to his shoulders. His skin was pale white and his green eyes were emotionless. His upper lip seemed to be black and he had some strange thick-ish black eyebrows. Rukia guessed he had some kind of makeup on.

The next person that stuck out to her was another large breasted woman with long wavy green hair and a red scar going across her face. She had a huge smile on her face and her eyes made her look somewhat childish. She stood with her arms wrapped around a tall blue haired male's arm. He had electric blue eyes and a horrid scowl seemingly etched into his handsome features. His physique was about the same as Ichigo's.

Rukia felt a shiver rise up her spine at the next man. He was tall and had a large grin and squinted eyes. His silver hair fell neatly over his fox-like face. A woman stood in front of him. His right arm wrapped around her shoulders. This woman was _also _big breasted and had a huge smile on her face. She had the most gorgeous, long, wavy strawberry blonde hair Rukia had ever seen. Rukia also noticed how tall everyone else was compared to her and nearly sweat-dropped.

"Hi Kuchiki-san! I'm Orihime Inoue! Nice to meet you!" The busty orange haired girl with the hairpins said gleefully. "And this is my boyfriend, Ulquiorra Schiffer." She grabbed the black haired and emotionless man's hands. Rukia stared at the unlikely couple. She would have to get to know them better in order to realize how they could like each other since they were so… different.

Ichigo let out a relieved sigh at inoue's news of a boyfriend.

"You too, Inoue. But please, just Rukia." Said petite girl said quietly. She just sent Ichigo a look of confusion.

"Okay! But that means you have to call me Orihime!" She grinned. Rukia turned her attention back to her and just nodded.

"That's the annoying girl I told you about before..." Warm air swished past Rukia's ear when Ichigo had whispered. She flushed slightly and nodded in understanding.

The fox-faced man spoke next. "Ah, nice to meet you Miss Rukia. I'm Gin."

Rukia stepped further behind Ichigo and tensed up. That man was terrifying.

The busty strawberry blonde greeted her as well. "Hi Rukia! I'm so happy to meet you! I'm Rangiku Matsumoto. So, what's your relationship with Ichi-kun here? Are you his girlfriend? Did he ba-" Tatsuki tackled the inappropriate woman before she could make this conversation awkward. Rukia was receding even further behind Ichigo's back.

* * *

Everyone did eventually greet Rukia and tell her their names. Grimmjow and Nel were the blue and green haired couple. Also, she had somehow missed the _giant _dark skinned man named Sado, called Chad by most. There was also a man – who she thought at first was a small boy – with spiked, snow white hair. He had scowling turquoise eyes and an overall icy demeanor. As it turns out that this man – shorter than her by about four inches – was the oldest in the group.

The group just talked and joked around telling each other about their lives and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Ichigo sat with his back up against the thick tree trunk with Rukia to his right. She kept shooting nervous glances at Gin. Other than that, though, everything was fine. Rukia even had a small smile on her face and laughed quietly at some of the strange group's even stranger antics.

"So, Rukia, since you've been so quiet, is it alright if we asked you a few questions about yourself so that we can get to know you better?" Nel asked in her sweet childlike voice.

"S-sure." Needless to say Rukia was taken by surprise.

"Yay! Okay let's see… hrm… Okay! I got one! What's your favorite color?"

Rukia took a moment to think. "I don't know, there are so many!" Rukia gushed. "I-I guess I like the color purple. But I also really like white. Oh wait but then there's orange!" Nel chuckled at Rukia.

"Okay, good enough!" She smiled happily. "How about… Your favorite TV sho-"

"Chappy." Rukia cut her off before she could finish. Orihime squealed in delight. "Me too!" She smiled widely.

"Okay Rukia, how about your favorite store to shop at!"

Rukia thought very hard. She hadn't been to many stores that she preferred.

"I love the Chappy store, but as far as clothes go… I-I don't really know. If I had to choose I'd pick Aeropostle or maybe Hottopic because I love the t-shirts there." Rukia just shrugged.

Orihime piped up next. "What's your favorite food?"

Rukia almost blurted strawberries but realized how embarrassing that would be, so she held her tongue and gave it a second thought.

"Do juice boxes count?"

Orihime just giggled and nodded.

"What do you like to do for fun?" Rangiku shouted.

"Well… uhm… usually I like to draw or read; but sometimes I like to play video games with Ichigo." Rukia had her hands in front of her as she kept poking her pointer fingers together. She could feel Gin's gaze on her and she was doing this out of nervousness.

"Aww, no partying, no drinking, no clubbing, not even hanging out with your friends?" Rangiku pouted.

Ichigo noticed that Rukia had winced a bit when Rangiku had said friends. Rukia hadn't been in contact with any of her friends for several months ad it was _very _touchy subject.

"N-no, sorry." Rukia put a believable smile in her face – Ichigo knew it was fake.

"I think that's enough questions for today." Tatsuki spoke up. "I'm getting hungry and the suns starting to go down. I'm going home." She just stood up and started to walk away.

"Bye!" Everyone shouted in unison, except for Ulquiorra. He just sat on the ground with a sleepy Orihime's head leaning on his shoulder.

"Well, Rukia, I think we should go too. Is that alright? Or do you want to stay longer?" Ichigo asked sincerely.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm getting really hungry and I _know _that you have some of the food your sister made for you for work leftover in the fridge. Her cooking is amazing!" Rukia threw her hands in the air at the last statement causing the small group to chuckle. Rukia ducked her head and flushed fiercely.

Grimmjow and Nel had stood up to leave as well. "Oh, so you're living together, eh? Are you dating? Does lil' Ichi finally have a bi-Oomph!" Ichigo cut off Grimmjow with a hard punch to the gut. He bent over trying to catch his breath. Rukia and Nel gasped.

"Yes she's living with me but we're not like _that._ And don't you _ever _call Rukia what you were just about to, you blue-haired bastard." Ichigo spat at him before turning and offering his hand to Rukia – his expression and overall attitude becoming gentler. She accepted it with a small look of shock on her pale face. He helped her up but didn't let go of her hand as they walked back to Ichigo's car.

"Bye Rukia! By Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime shouted through her sleepy state. Rangiku did the same.

Ichigo just raised his free hand in the air with his ring and pinky fingers bent down and waved his hand without looking back. Rukia walked forward but had her head tilted so that she could look at Ichigo's handsome face. He had his trademark scowl on his face and he looked grumpy; as if the fun from the groups meeting had left his mind completely. Rukia being totally unaware when it came to things – such as Rangiku's and Grimmjow's sentences being cut off before they could get out the horrid thing they were going to say – was completely baffled as to why Ichigo was acting this way.

"Hey, Berry-head, stop scowling. I thought this was supposed to be a good thing?"

"It _was _until Grimmjow just _had _to try and start something." Ichigo grumbled and looked down at his feet that were propelling him forward at a slow pace to match Rukia's. Rukia was still puzzled, but she noticed how upset Grimmjow's actions had made Ichigo. Something clicked in Rukia's mind.

"Wh-when you yelled at Grimmjow, you said he was going to c-call me something? Is that why you're angry? Because he was going to call me something b-bad?" Rukia looked up at his face with large praising – yet somehow troubled – mauve pools.

"Yes..."

Rukia let go of Ichigo's warm hand and went under his arm to wrap her own arms around his torso.

"Thank you Ichi." Her voice was a bit muffled from her face being pressed into his side. He let his arm wrap around Rukia.

"Y-you're welcome Rukia." Ichigo flushed profusely.

Rukia stopped hugging Ichigo and let his arm rest on her shoulders until they reached the car. Once again they drove home in a comforting silence.

* * *

_Meanwhile in the Park:_

"Grimmjow you _ass!_ Why the hell did you almost call Kuchiki a bitch with Ichigo _**right there**_? If you had finished that sentence with her hearing it he would have _killed _you!" Nel had gone on a rant as soon as Ichigo and Rukia had left. She was thoroughly pissed off at Grimm. During her rant she had started to hit him repeatedly actually causing the gruff man to act _afraid._ "It's stuff like this that makes me wonder why I even _like _you – let alone love your sorry ass." Nel huffed with crossed arms. Grimmjow just sighed.

She walked away angrily towards their vehicle with Grimmjow in tow.

And with that, everyone left.

* * *

**A/N: TAAA-DAA! Yay! A good long 6 1/3 pages a good juicy typing 3**

**To my dismay I had to rewrite most of this because I had accidently included Renji into their group of friends totally forgetting his role in this story… This is why I hate being a blonde… I always forget important shit like that…anyways I hope you liked it and for some reason I don't really like how I portrayed Rukia in this chapter. I keep trying to keep everyone in character but it's impossible to do that for Rukia! Oh well… Don't forget to review my little Gummy Bears of DOOM!**

**Ichigo: I'm going to kill Grimmjow!**

**Rukia: Can't Nnoitara already beat you to it about like 120 episodes ago.**

**Ichigo: Then how the fuck did he come back to life in the sucky-ass story?**

**Me: My story is not 'sucky-ass' and he's alive because I'm a FanFiction author which means that I have my own little universe where I am a god and control everything. Here everyone is human and those I like are alive! :D (not that i'm not trying to be sacreligious :D)**

**Ichigo and Rukia: …**

**Ichigo: Well I'm still pissed about the chapter when I got stabbed. And the overall thought that Rukia was… ya know..**

**Me: Raped? :D**

**Ichigo: *flushes* yeah… that**

**Rukia and Me (but mstly me): AWW! He's so modest! Let's pet his hair!**

**Ichigo: No! NO! Don't come any closer! AAHH! *gets caught while we pet his hair***

**I am awesome and so are you! Please if you haven't already add this to your Author Alerts list or possibly your favorites! ~AF134**

**P.S. I'm debating on writing a lil Christmas multiple Bleach Pairing one shot... Do you think I should do it? It shouldn't affect my updating speeds for this story so it's more of a definite maybe if no one answers. Thankies! Byye Byyes! :3**


	12. Chapter 12: Accidental

**A/N: My dearest readers of mine. I am sorry once again for my abse- FUCKING SHIT!**

***runs around dodging flaming arrows***

**STOP IT! I HAVE A LEGIT EXCUSE THIS TI-**

***Ulqui-kun jumps in front to defend me with ****Murciélago*******

**Arigato, Ulquiorra-kun! :D**

**Ulqui: …**

**Okay, now as I was saying, I have several excuses:**

**My horrible health conditions. I just recently recovered from having really bad case of bronchitis that pretty much prevented me from over 5 hours of sleep a night. And then I got a fucking nasty stomach virus that had me throwing up and dry-heaving for two whole days…couldn't walk the entire first day…my legs wouldn't move . scared the shit outta me but that's fixed now xD Although I still have a nasty cough and I am unbearably tired..**

**Science Fair for my school is coming up and I had to finish my long-assed research paper and my backboard, as well as my project…**

**I sorta kinda had a change…of…heart? Mind? Soul? I don't know… But all I do know is that now… uhm... I sorta like…**

**Ulquiorra: She prefers the Onna and I together as compared to the simple-minded Shinigami-daikou and his black haired counterpart.**

**Orihime: *blushies***

**Me: I GREATLY APOLOGIZE MY FELLOW ICHIRUKI FANS! I HAVE DEMOTED ICHIRUKI TO MY 4****TH**** FAVE BLEACH SHIP! *drops onto floor in respectful bow* PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEEEE!**

'**Tis true though, UlquiHime is now my ultimate ship ****although I don't like Orihime all that much… O.O - Shit - e.O**

**Orihime: *cries***

**Ulquiorra: *glare* Resurreccion! Enclose, ****Murciélago ****Segunda Etapa! **

_**I'm not sure if I should be squeeing uncontrollably like a true fangirl or running for my life….**_

***runs away screaming and squeeing uncontrollably***

**Ichigo and Rukia: (-_-;)(._.)**

**Ichigo: While she's doing… that… Why don't we just continue with this fucked up story…**

**Rukia: H-hai… That'd be for the best…**

**Orihime: WAIT! We have to thank all of the nice people who reviewed and added this to their favorites and alerts :3 Maybe we could send them Vanilla Cupcakes with red bean paste and pickles as toppings! :D**

**Ichigo and Rukia: O_e No… I think a new chapter would do just fine…**

***everyone turns around***

**~In le background~**

**Ulquiorra: Remove yourself from my tail.**

**Me: But it's so fluffy! :D **

**Ulquiorra: Cero Oscuras! *points out 2 fingers***

**Me: EEP!**

**~back around… ~**

**Rukia: So… you like **_**him?**_

**Orihime: Heh-heh ^w^;**

* * *

**Ichigo: Anywho, I'm pretty sure the blonde-haired giant being chased by Schiffer back there would like to thank the following people for reviewing, faving, adding this story to their alerts, and/or adding her to your fave authors -**

~ totaleclipse84

~MockingBirdxSxG

~violet404

~Sakurazero (I apologize for not having the one-shot out T_T I had it all finished but my computer crashed and I lost everything for I did not save it TTT_TTT)

~MyinnerDEMON17

~Rukia141 (I'm not even sure if you're reading this story…but I saw you in my emails about fanfiction stuff so I couldn't leave out one of my favorite authors :D I feel so awesome to have someone as EPIC as you read at least one of my stories!) She read _Ichigo's Depression_ and she liked it :3

~kimmie-pooh

~naruhina4ever101

~chibiyukia

~escarcega01

~Anokoku

~ICHIRUKI LOVER (another _Ichigo's Depression _reader)

~Sairey13

~Jordanthegirl

~IchiAi

***Ichigo passes out***

**Rukia: FOOL! You should have taken at least **_**one **_**breath! Seriously, that orange hair of yours must suck out all the nutrients your brain needs… *drags Ichigo away***

**Orihime: Uh-Uhm well.. I'm not really sure what's supposed to happen now… heh-heh**

* * *

***GLOMP***

**Me: EEP! SO MUSCULAR!**

**Ulquiorra: Get off of me!**

**Me: NEVER!**

**Ulquiorra: *holds up claws and shoves crazed author/fangirl off* *flies high into the night sky of Hueco Mundo***

**Me: Wait…How the fuck did we end up here?**

***Orihime shrugs***

**Ulquiorra: Lanza de Relámpago!**

**Me: ************** HOLY FUCKING SHIT ********************

**Orihime: Shiny (OwO)**

**LET'S START THE CHAPTER BEFORE I AM KILLED!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ichigo, Rukia, Ulquiorra T_T, Orihime, or any other Bleach characters because I am obviously not Tite Kubo. Beach and its characters rightfully belong to him. I do own the poem at the beginning though :D It's hard to explain what it means though so just interpret it anyway you want to! Also any products of games mentioned in this story ARE NOT MINE. Just in case ya didn't know by now :3**

* * *

_The sun brings forth a gleaming light_

_Brightness so joyous causing the flowers to sing_

_Icy tendrils of darkness parade the night_

_Our hearts filled with fear without our sight_

_The sun overcomes the darkness in our tainted hearts_

_Endless nights leave an icy sting_

_Then morning comes and the pain departs_

_Only to repeat the cycle life may bring_

* * *

Rukia slammed her door shut and collapsed onto the floor – hands plastered to the side of her head as her forehead rested on her folded knees.

'_Oh God, what have I done?'_

She was in near hysterics from what had just occurred not seconds before.

How could that have possibly happened? Why had she done it? _Why?_

* * *

_**~Before~**_

"Die, Berry, die! Perish at the hands of Sheik!"

"Never in your life, Midget! Sheik's no match for Charizard!"

Rukia mashed the buttons on her custom Chappy the Bunny Wii remote causing her character to knock Charizard off the map.

"Ha! Feel the wrath of the pipsqueak!" She squealed gleefully with her arms up in victory.

"Hate to break it to ya Ruki, but this game isn't over until the timers out." She scowled in response.

A pokéball appeared on the platform and out popped Squirtle.

"What? But you picked Charizard! You can't have two fighters! That's not fair!"

"Rukia just press down and A at the same time and Sheik will turn into Zelda."

She followed his directions and her face lit up instantly at the results.

"Cool." Ichigo smiled.

Exactly one minute and thirty-four seconds later, the battle ended with Rukia being the winner.

"Yes! In your face, Ichigo! I won and you lost!"

"By one…" he muttered in defeat. "There's no need to brag about it."

"Oooh, sounds like _someone _is a bit of a sore loser." She said teasingly. Ichigo turned his head away.

"No, I just don't like it when people brag."

"A-huh and I'm a six foot tall Swedish super model worth millions." Sarcasm evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I know _that_, pipsqueak." He laughed.

"I'm not a pipsqueak! You're just a freakish giant!"

"_Feel the wrath of the pipsqueak!"_ he mocked her voice with his own squeaky rendition. "Your words, not mine." Rukia's cheeks turned red – either from embarrassment, anger, or both, Ichigo did not know.

"Shut it, Berry-head." She growled.

"Make me, beansprout." He made the mistake of smirking too.

"Graaaahh!" Rukia lunged and him; tackling him to the floor with a pillow grasped tightly in her right hand. Once again – like a previous fight of theirs – she began to beat Ichigo with it.

Ichigo couldn't control his laughter though and soon Rukia began to laugh too. She stopped hounding on him with the pillow and just rested her body on top of his as they shook with laughter.

* * *

It took a good five minutes for their laughter to stop – leaving them just looking into each other's eyes with warm smiles. Rukia giggled randomly and Ichigo raised his brow in question.

"I just realized how immature we were acting just now." She giggled again before looking back into his hazy amber eyes.

"Yeah, guess we were; but hey, nothing's wrong with a little fun."

"Mmm-hmm." She put her hands on either side of Ichigo's head and pushed herself up a bit. "Thank you, Ichigo."

"For what?"

"You know, for everything. Letting me stay here; letting me meet your friends; letting me have fun. Just thank you so much." Rukia's violet eyes filled with emotion.

"Ah, no problem Rukia. Really, it's quite fun for me too. Having someone here all the time makes it a lot less lonely and seeing my friends was a lot more bearable with you around. I think I might just have to keep you around." His cheeks flushed a bit but Rukia's flushed brighter.

They stayed there – on the floor – for an unknown amount of time that seemed like forever but truly only lasted a few seconds. Rukia with her hands besides Ichigo's head with her torso hovering over his. Since she was so short she was straddling his stomach.

Their gazes intensified and Rukia found herself slowly moving her face closer to Ichigo's. Their breathing was calm and their faces flushed. And then suddenly -

Their lips met.

A shock of electricity coursed through their bodies just at the feather-light kiss they shared. Their eyes had shut as their lips began to move. Lost in the moment, Ichigo put his hands on both sides of Rukia's face and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss.

It was pure bliss.

Never in her life had Rukia felt so amazing. Not even when she was younger and Renji still wasn't… Realization dawned on Rukia and she froze and her eyes opened wide in shock.

_What the hell was she doing?_

This was happening way too fast. She stood up and bolted to her room before Ichigo could protest. The last she saw was the pure shock evident on his face.

* * *

**A/N: Yes it's a fucking short chapter, but HEY! THEY FINALLY KISSED! Now this is my first like real kissing scene so cut me some slack if it sucks…**

**Ichigo and Rukia: *uber blushies***

**Me: Now, since you two have kissed… *turns to Ulqui and Hime* Now it's your turn!**

**Orihime: *blushies* I uhm… I don't think now is a very appropriate time… heh...**

**Me: Don't be absurd. Also… I am the god of this world and I demand you and Ulqui to kiss. NOW.**

**Ulquiorra: I do believe she just said – indirectly – that she does not feel comforta-**

**Me: NOW. **_**Or else…**_**_**

**Ulquiorra: Or else what?**

**Me: This. **

***POOF!***

**Orihime: O_O**

**Rukia: o_o**

**Ichigo: O_O**

**Ulquiorra: What have you done, human!**

**Me: Keh… Don't talk about humans like they're trash because now you are one too.**

**Ulquiorra: I demand you change me back.**

**Me: Kiss Orihime. Then I will.**

**Ulquiorra: No. She does not wish to.**

**Me: Fine then. Until next chapter…**

* * *

**Yes my imagination spark for IchiRuki is very dull but UlquiHime is overflowing with new ideas! I AM SO FUCKING SORRY ICHIRUKI FANS!**

**Oh and if you were wondering the Wii game they were playing was **_**Super Smash Brothers Brawl **_**since I love that game so fucking much. So many fond memories **

**Thank you for reading! You know reviews, faves, and adding me or the story to your alerts is always welcome ~ Flames are not.**

**Luff Chu Guys! ~AF134**


	13. Chapter 13: Revelation

**Okay so I updated! :D **

***flinches***

**Oh look no one threw anything today :D**

**I apologize for my lateness. I'm not going to pull so huge-assed excuse. I was just being lazy and honestly I've lost inspiration for this story. Don't worry though, I won't drop this! No matter what! So please bear with my late updates.**

**I just wanted to say that I received a few reviews some helped me and others just kinda made me feel a bit down– it kinda hurt too. Honestly though, I am thankful for all my reviews – even the ones that make me kinda sad. Just throwing that out there.**

**Okay real big thanks from me and Ichi, Ruki, Hime, and Ulqui because you reviewed, favorited this story, added the story to your alerts, or added me to your alerts:**

~Sakurazero

~XxLightAngel90Xx

~OMEGABLACK

~Harveyman

~Generalmayhem02 (A big thanks to you for such a considerate review – you actually helped to keep me set on getting this chapter out)

~Ayase Reincarnated

~IRAssault

~totaleclipse84 (I'm hoping you like this chapter even though I procrastinated -_-)

~SinoviVaatell

~fujingodofwind (Thank you for the review – I like your name it made me giggle :3)

~princess19 (for adding my Inuyasha fic to your faves)

~mooopower (My god your name is amazing xD )

~Magicalfish13

~mountainlion1

~lonermag (Thanks for the Shattering Hearts fave 3)

~FueyukiandHanae

~Valkyrie's Vengence (OMFG Your name is _soooooo _ cool! :D)

~Kisuke13

~ichiruki4ever (Thank you so very much for your review! I hope this chapter will be as good as you hoped!)

~Abigail15

**Again thank you very much for supporting my story.**

**I have finished my science fair, my illness has dulled down a bit to a nasty cough here and there, and even though school is still stressful I got this new chapter out for you guys. **

**I'm really truly very sorry for last chapter's shortness and overload of A/N and excuses. Hopefully the kiss in last chapter and the contents within this one will help you to forgive me.**

**(There aren't any line-breaks on the editing for the site anymore -_- So please bear with me)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ichigo, Rukia, or any other characters from Bleach. I do not own Bleach – it and its characters belong to Tite Kubo the king of all trolls. Trust me, if I owned Bleach there would be a **_**lot **_**of romance and Ulqui-kun would still be alive and gloomy – because we all love our Emo-Batspada :D**

"O-Oi… Rukia?" He knocked gently on the door for the ump-teenth time; never getting a response.

"Come on Rukia. Please come out. I need to talk to you." Again no response.

"Fine…" He whispered in defeat. "J-just come and talk to me when you're ready. I can understand why you're avoiding me. When you get hungry, please don't starve yourself. I'll stay in m y room for the next hour if you're uncomfortable with me here. All I ask is that you stay healthy and talk to me – eventually."

Silence. Ichigo sighed and turned towards his room. Plopping down on his bed he placed his arm over his eyes and recalled last evening's events.

_He stared into her beautiful mauve pools as her head lowered towards his own. Her eyes fluttered shut and his did as well. _

_Their lips met in an explosion of electrical currents. His hands came up to cup her pale cheeks and pulled her closer._

_The next thing he knew Rukia had flung his arms from her and she had rushed into her room. He stared after her in pure shock suddenly feeling cold with the loss of her body heat._

'_Oh god… did we just… did _**I **_just… shit… Rukia…'_

Ichigo still wasn't a hundred percent sure why she had reacted so harshly.

'_I mean… she seemed to… like it, right? She wouldn't have… kissed me if she hadn't.'_

A sigh escaped his lips. Why the hell did this have to happen?

'_I need to distract myself until she's ready to talk…'_

He flicked on the TV hoping to find something to hold at least a fraction of interest for the next hour or so to give Rukia a chance to eat.

What greeted him made him bolt up from his lying position.

"_Once again the violent Renji Abarai has beaten another victim. This time a man and his girlfriend were walking home from a park only to be confronted by Abarai. The victims – Ulquiorra Schiffer and his girlfriend Orihime Inoue – stated that he asked them where a girl named Rukia was. After simply refusing to answer him he attempted to grab Ms. Inoue only to be attacked by Mr. Schiffer. A knife was pulled and used against Mr. Schiffer – getting seriously injured in the process. Renji Abarai disappeared from the scene and the current conditions of the victims are unknown due to the police."_

Ichigo gaped at the screen. Ichigo bolted to his door and only hesitated a moment before bursting into the hall. He rushed to the kitchen where he noticed Rukia had frozen at the table. He grabbed the phone and dialed Inoue's number.

It rang a few times.

"Pick up… come on. Please pick up." It went straight to her voice mail. "Damnit." He cussed under his breath.

Rukia just gawked at the horribly worried expression on Ichigo's face. What the _hell _was happening?

"I-Ichigo? Is something… is something wrong?" She asked quietly. He turned around to face her.

"Inoue and her boyfriend were attacked and they're in the hospital." Ichigo was careful not to mention that it was Renji who had done this. Rukia's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my god… We have to go see them!" Rukia bolted up and slipped on her shoes and a jacket. Ichigo stared in bewilderment at her sudden change of attitude.

Rukia ran into the hospital and went straight to the front desk. "Excuse me, Miss? Uhm, could you tell me which room Inoue Orihime and Schiffer Ulquiorra are? We're," she gestured to Ichigo, "their close friends."

"I'm sorry, but only family members are allowed to see them at the moment. If you come back lat-"

"But, we have to go see them!"

"Please, could you just let us in to see them? They don't even have family members; just their friends." Ichigo added in calmly.

The lady behind the desk stopped and thought a moment. "Oh… alright. They're in room 13 on the fourth floor. I'll get Hanatarou to help you find it." Rukia smiled happily.

"Thank you." Ichigo said.

The lady just looked at him worriedly, "Just don't tell my boss."

"No problem," he laughed.

Hanatarou took them up in the elevator and lead them down the surprisingly confusing hallway – the shape of the hospital was normal from the outside but within it was like a labyrinth.

"H-here you go." Hanatarou waved and walked off; leaving Ichigo and Rukia in front of room 13. Rukia knocked lightly.

No response.

She knocked a bit harder.

"You may enter." A muffled, cold voice responded through the door. Ichigo opened it.

Ulquiorra sat in a chair next to Orihime's bed as she slept. Her arm was in a cast and she had a gash on her forehead. Ulquiorra was worse – his abdomen was wrapped tightly with bandages already turning a bit red from blood. His arms were covered in bandages – most likely from multiple cuts – and his one wrist in a cast. The fool had reopened his wounds to sit in the chair next to Orihime.

Rukia gaped in mild horror at her friend's unconscious form. "Is she… is she okay?"

Ulquiorra turned his head and a long cut could be seen going straight across his nose. He glared at Rukia.

"She should be fine. The doctor said she has a small concussion and that she might be out for a day or two." His voice stayed emotionless; though, his eyes were burning with anger.

"Th-thank goodness." Rukia breathed out in relief; although, the look Ulquiorra was giving Rukia scared her a bit.

"Oi! Ulquiorra, you should lay back down. Your wounds reopened themselves and I know for a fact that those wounds must hurt like hell." Ichigo said this calmly but the ever-present scowl on his face deepened as a result of Ulquiorra's glare at Rukia.

"I do not wish to leave her bedside. It's the least I could do, since I failed to protect her from that red-haired bastard."

Ichigo's scowl deepened and gave Ulquiorra a look as if to say _'keep your mouth shut or else.'_

Rukia was confused. "Huh?"

Ulquiorra looked questioningly at Ichigo and Rukia without showing any emotion other than in his emerald eyes. "You mean you have yet to tell her _who _did this to the onna?"

"Ulquiorra…" Ichigo shifted his feet nervously.

"What? Ichigo, what does it matter who… attacked Inoue and Schiffer-kun?" Rukia turned around and looked at Ichigo worriedly. Ichigo refused to look her in the eye.

"Schiffer-kun… who attacked you and Inoue?" Rukia was afraid to ask for she seemed to already begin to realize who it had been. She turned around as she spoke and looked Ulquiorra in the eyes – hers large and frightened and his emotionless once again.

"Kuchiki, it was Renji Abarai. He came over and attacked us for no apparent reason other than that he wanted us to tell him where you were. We refused and the onna paid the price for that. I failed to protect her." His eyes narrowed into angry slits and his voice was laden with guilt and wrath. "I do not know why he was looking for you, but he was highly intoxicated and extremely angry. I ask that you avoid any further contact with Orihime until he is found and arrested. This is best for her safety – and _yours._" Ulquiorra snarled at the end of his sentence. He turned back to Orihime and gently took her left hand into both of his.

Rukia took a step back and bumped into Ichigo's chest. She looked up into his face with her large, mortified eyes. He was too preoccupied by glaring at Ulquiorra's back to look back at her.

"What the hell, man! You can't talk to her like that! It's not her fucking fault!" He shouted.

"I certainly believe that it _is _her fault. If not for her being friends with the onna that _trash_ would not have attacked us. If Kuchiki had just simply kept her troubles to herself everyone would be fine right now. Hell, why doesn't she just go and converse with him? This matter could have been settled, and we would have been perfectly fine. Kuchiki should have just stayed away." Rukia gaped and then dropped her head sullenly – a shadow over her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook in silent tears. Her legs went limp and she fell to the ground in a kneeling position.

"Shut the fuck up, Ulquiorra! You have no fucking idea what she went through! You have no right to accuse her of anything dammit!" During his rant Ichigo had kneeled down behind Rukia with his hands on her shoulders. Ulquiorra simply sat their watching over Orihime – not a hint of guilt in him. He remained silent.

"Hey… Rukia?" Ichigo whispered. He stood up and moved around to crouch in front of Rukia's shaking form. Frowning, Ichigo hesitantly put both his hands on either side of Rukia's face and made her look at him. Tears fell down her cheeks – her eyes as wide as saucers. "Rukia, it's alright everything will be fine. I'm here to protect you so you don't need to cry anymore." He smiled sadly. Rukia peered into his rich amber eyes so full of kindness. Ichigo's thumb gently brushed across her cheek erasing her tears. She held in her tears as Ichigo helped her stand up. They left the room quietly not looking back at the hospitalized couple.

Ichigo's arm was draped around Rukia's thin shoulders and Rukia's arms were wrapped around Ichigo's waist. Her tears had lessened and they walked silently out of the hospital. A slight drizzle greeted them outside as they drove home.

Rukia had been curled up on the couch ever since they had gotten home from the hospital. Her head buried in her knees which were held up by her arms, Rukia hadn't done much but breathe. Ichigo on the other hand was worried for her. She had not said a word in almost three hours. She had just sat on the couch – not even minding the light buzz of the newscast on the TV. There had even been another showing of Renji's case. Her toes had curled up and she curled in on herself further. Rukia stayed like that until the cast ended.

Ichigo had had enough – he was worried sick.

"Ya know you're gonna have to say something sooner or later or you're going to burst from your pent up emotions." He said this so softly an angel's voice could have seemed coarse. Rukia physically stiffened. "It's okay to talk about it. Crying is fine. I'm here for you, so there's no need to worry." He smiled a sad smile.

10 seconds.

15 seconds.

30 seconds.

45 seconds.

An entire minute passed until Rukia's raven-haired head slowly rose. Her eyes were covered by a shadow but a silent trail of tears was visibly trailing down her ashen cheeks.

She turned her head towards Ichigo. Her eyes wide and swirling with emotion – her mouth agape trying to put together a sentence. "I-I…. I'm s-so….I'm so," she paused to take a shaky breath. "I'm just so scared! I j-just thought that he'd forget about me! I… I don't want him to find me!" She finally burst. Sobs wracked her tiny body. Tears fell down her cheeks like pouring rain. Rukia held her arm in front of her eyes, wiping them, to try and stop the tears. Her efforts were fruitless.

Ichigo's faced scrunched in concern, and then he did the only thing he knew that could help her.

He stretched out his long, muscular arms and pulled Rukia's small frame into his warm embrace. His hand on the back of her head and the other arm was securely around her shoulders – holding her to him.

With her hands placed flat out on his chest, Rukia buried her face into his shirt and bawled her eyes out. All the awkwardness and fear from their kiss long forgotten Rukia melted into his embrace. She just wanted to escape from reality.

Over time her sobbing turned to sniffles – her sniffles to hiccups – and finally her hiccups turned to the even breathing of sleep. Even during sleep, the red puffiness of her crying face had yet to disappear.

Ichigo continued to hold her close; fearing that if he let her go she would awake and begin to cry again.

Since she had fallen asleep, he had changed their positions. Rukia's head now rested gently against his shoulder. Her legs were spread out to lie on the couch. Ichigo's arms were around her waist as she slept oh so peacefully. Rukia's arms were placed over her stomach lightly – as if she were holding herself.

She looked so peaceful as she slept, it's no wonder Ichigo kept his eyes trained on her beautiful tear-stained face. Although, after a time, he too drifted off to sleep. His head gently rested on top of Rukia's lovingly.

_So dark. Everything was painted dark enough to put a moonless night in the countryside to shame._

_Where was the light?_

_Had it been swallowed up by the darkness that had consumed this land along with me?_

_Suddenly there was red. A large burst, too sudden and vibrant to be ignored or viewed as harmless. It hurt. It hurt so badly! Make it stop! Please make this end! _

_Then there was an explosion of beautiful colors all across the now star-dotted sky. Beautiful fireworks danced across the sky in an intricate pattern. Orange. Green. Teal. . Every color but that horrid red._

_It stopped. The pain, it's gone._

"_Rukia… don't think you can find happiness, I __**will **__find you…" an eerily familiar voice flitted into my ears. I shuddered. An icy chill spread throughout my thin and exposed body. The darkness was slowly beginning to envelope me once again._

_Was I going to freeze? It's hurting again. I just want this to end._

_**BOOM!**_

_A rainbow of colors shot across the sky in a beautiful array of light and hope. It filled me with such warmth. I felt myself enveloped in a dress painted with a myriad of beautiful rainbow hues. Then there were arms around me._

_I'm not afraid. I know who these arms belong to. I know where this feeling of acceptance and comfort is coming from. Happiness flooded my once numb body. My emotions raged inside me fighting for dominance._

_Happiness._

_Joy._

_Excitement._

_Thankfulness._

_**Love.**_

"_Ohayo, Midget." He breathed into my ear. I flushed a deep shade of pink. I turned my head to get a better view._

"_Ohayo, Strawberry." I smiled._

_Ever so slowly we closed the distance between us. The darkness from earlier forgotten, our lips met. A bolt of intense electricity bolted through my body. I was tingly everywhere. I felt so good._

_We parted slightly. He smiled. His unruly orange locks shifted in the slight breeze. _

_I turned around to face his vertically-gifted body._

"_Daisuke… Strawberry." I was so tired. I uttered those words and my eyelids fluttered shut._

_All that was left was an endless void full of warmth and an overwhelming sense of peace._

With her sleeping mind immersed in the unpredictable realm of dreams, Rukia's face portrayed the sweetest of slumbering smiles.

**There ya go! I got this one done. Honestly, my favorite part of this entire story so far is probably this dream that Rukia had. I mean the way I envisioned it in my head. O w O ****3**

**I don't know the next time I'll get around to updating to sop please bear with me. Just know that I will be updating **_**To Hell and Back **_**before I update this one again. I have this routine where if I update one, I must update the other. So my readers, you can expect a THAB chapter sometime soon :D**

**Thank you for reading. I once again apologize for last chapter. Please review! 3**


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